SNHR Calls on the US Administration to Take All Measures Possible Against the Syrian Regime for Killing a US Citizen Under Torture
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In May 2024, the family of doctor Majd Kamalmaz began receiving information of his death in a Syrian regime detention center. This came after many attempts by the family to find out anything about his whereabouts since he was first arrested by regime forces on February 15, 2017, at a checkpoint in al-Mazza neighborhood of Damascus city.
Dr. Majd Marwan Kamalamz, an American psychotherapist, originally from Damascus city, was aged 59 at the time of his arrest. On February 14, 2017, Dr. Majd arrived in Damascus city from Lebanon, and was arrested the day after his arrival. Since then, he has been categorized as a forcibly disappeared person, with the Syrian regime denying having him or allowing anyone to visit him even a lawyer. According to intelligence received by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) from his family, Dr. Majd was in good health at the time of his arrest indicating a strong probability that he died due to torture and medical negligence in a regime detention center. SNHR can also confirm that Syrian regime forces did not disclose Dr. Majid’s death to his family at the time it took place, nor have they returned his body to his family.
Known for his extensive humanitarian activism, Dr. Majd helped many Syrian refugees in Lebanon by providing humanitarian and medical services. For this reason, he and others like him have been viewed as primary, strategic targets by the Syrian regime, which has spared no effort in pursuing, detaining and forcibly disappearing figures like Dr. Majd with no legal justification.
International law strictly prohibits torture and all other forms of cruel, degrading, or inhumane torture. The prohibition of torture is a customary rule that cannot be disputed or balanced against other rights or values, even in times of emergency. Violating this rule is a crime under international criminal law. Those who issued the orders for or assisted in carrying out torture are criminally liable for their actions.