MAY
11
2023
10:00 am
 ET
MAY
11
2023
10:00 am
 ET
timep single page

Seeking Justice: Mzaik v. Syria and the Free Syria’s Disappeared Coalition for Accountability


The Free Syria’s Disappeared Coalition, MENA Prison Forum, and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) are delighted to have co-hosted a virtual panel discussion and Q&A session entitled “Seeking Justice: Mzaik v. Syria and the FreeSyria’sDisappeared Coalition for Accountability,” on May 11, 2023.

The Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) co-filed a lawsuit against the Syrian Arab Republic in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for widespread and systematic torture in its detention centers on behalf of its client Obada Mzaik, a Syrian-American man who was arbitrary detained and tortured by Syrian state actors in 2012. The suit exposes the Syrian regime’s broader systematic use of detention and torture as state policy, which continues to this day in a network of the regime’s detention centers.

In response to this lawsuit, a group of detention survivors, families of detainees, and human rights groups launched the Free Syria’s Disappeared coalition to highlight the voices of those affected and to demand accountability and justice for the crimes they have endured.

The panel discussion was moderated by Emma Beals, non-resident fellow at the Middle East institute. Our distinguished speakers include Obada Mzaik, the plaintiff of the lawsuit; Wafa Mustafa, a Syrian activist and a daughter of a detainee in Assad’s prisons; and Ahmad Soliman, a Staff Attorney with the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA).

The panel discussion focused on the pervasive and systematic use of detention, enforced disappearance, and torture in Syria, as well as its effects on victims and families. It provided a platform for human rights experts, torture survivors, and justice advocates to exchange ideas and opinions about the ongoing issue of accountability and justice in Syria.

The panel discussion also featured the Free Syria’s Disappeared coalition in order to raise awareness on the impact of detention on victims and families as well as to gather support for their coalition.

Watch the conversation here:

Speaker profiles: