The French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noel Barrot; and its German counterpart, Annalena Baerbockvisited this Friday the infamous Sednaya prisonnorth of Damascusas part of his visit to Syria to show his support for the new interim government established after the overthrow of the deposed dictator Bashar Al Assad.
French diplomatic sources indicated that both They visited the prisonwhich they described as “symbol of the worst crimes of the Bashar Al Assad regime”.
“France will mobilize to shed light on the crimes committed. “It fully supports the work carried out by the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria and the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IMI) of the United Nations, as well as that of the Independent Institution for Missing Persons,” said the head of French diplomacy. , according to sources.
On the other hand, the German envoy for Syria, Stefan Schneckassured in his official X account that he was with Baerbock in Sednaya: “Words cannot describe the horrors at Sednayabut they remind us that we must remember the horrors so as not to repeat them.”
Baerbock was accompanied during her visit to the military prison of the Syrian Civil Defense, known as the white helmetsreported Syrian television aligned with the interim government.
Amnesty International estimates that there were between 10,000 and 20,000 inmates systematically subjected to torture and ill-treatment in Sednaya.which was directed by the military police of the deposed regime, and was the final destination of both peaceful opponents of the authorities and soldiers suspected of opposing Al Assad since 2011, at the beginning of the conflict in Syria.
This is one of the stops of both heads of diplomacy, who They visit the Syrian capital on behalf of the European Union to meet with the country’s strongman and de facto leader, Ahmed Al Sharaa.
The message they want to convey is that They support Syria in this new stage without Al Assad and they are willing to help them make the Arab country stable again.
Al Sharaa, which leads the Levant Liberation Organization (HTS, in Arabic, and heir to the Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda), insists that the United States, the EU and other countries lift the sanctions against Syria imposed for the last almost fourteen years of war in the nation, governed by Al Assad, to begin reconstruction.
This is the first visit to Syria by two European heads of diplomacy since the fall of Al Assad on December 8 by a coalition led by the Islamist Al Sharaa.
(With information from EFE)
