DAMASCUS, 29 July 2021, (TON): The United States is taking action to promote accountability for entities and individuals that have perpetuated the suffering of the Syrian people. 

The United States is sanctioning eight Syrian prisons, five Assad regime officials in the institutions that run those facilities, two militia groups, and two militia leaders.  These actions underscore the U.S. commitment to promote respect for human rights and accountability for abuse against Syrians.

Many of the prisons designated today were highlighted in the pictures provided by Caesar, a Syrian regime defector who worked as an official photographer for the Syrian military and exposed the regime’s ruthless and cruel treatment of detainees. 

Today’s action furthers the goals of the Act named after him, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, which seeks to promote accountability for the Assad regime’s abuses.

The Assad regime has detained and abused a vast number of Syrians since the start of the conflict, as has been well documented by the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) and human rights groups.  More than 14,000 detainees have reportedly died after being tortured at the hands of the Assad regime, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, while 130,000 Syrians are reportedly still missing or detained.

The United States is imposing sanctions on Saydnaya Military Prison pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13894 for having engaged in the commission of serious human rights abuse, including torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment and extrajudicial executions, since the start of the Syrian crisis.

The United States is also designating seven additional prisons operated by the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate and Syrian Military Intelligence for being owned or controlled by entities blocked pursuant to E.O. 13572, and five regime officials in charge of Syrian prisons.