US Treasury imposes sanctions on Syria prisons, armed groups – JURIST – News

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department on Wednesday sanctioned eight prisons of the secret service unit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for violating human rights against political prisoners and other inmates. In addition, OFAC sanctioned the Syrian armed group Ahrar al-Sharqiya and two of its leaders for mistreatment against civilians and added five other high-ranking security officials of the al-Assad regime who control the detention facilities to the list of specially designated nationals and the lockdown of the Ministry of Finance.

According to OFAC, the Assad regime imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Syrians during the war, at least 14,000 of whom were tortured to death and 130,000 are still missing or arbitrarily detained without contact to their families or access to legal counsel.

OFAC added that Ahrar al-Sharqiya had committed numerous crimes against Syrian civilians, particularly those of Kurdish origin, including unlawful killings, kidnappings, torture and confiscation of private property. The group has reportedly recruited former members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (IS) to join its ranks.

One of the prisons sanctioned by OFAC and operated by Syrian Military Intelligence was Saydnaya Military Prison, which OFAC says has a well-documented history of serious human rights violations. OFAC stated that only two buildings in this prison combined could hold 10,000 to 20,000 inmates, and that many inmates were denied food and water for long periods of time after being subjected to massive beatings.

Thousands of dissidents from the al-Assad regime are said to have been extrajudicially executed by mass hangings in prison and buried in mass graves. OFAC referred to several NGO reports that estimate between 5,000 and 13,000 executions in the Saydnaya military prison between 2011 and 2015.

The sanctions against the named natural and legal persons effectively block all property and property rights (“Property”) located in the United States or owned or controlled by US persons (ie US citizens or residents) . In addition, this property must be reported to OFAC.

In addition, OFAC regulations generally prohibit all US persons from entering into transactions involving the property of the suspended persons. The prohibitions include providing or delivering funds, goods, or services to or receiving them from a banned person.

These sanctions have been imposed under the authority of Executive Ordinances 13572 and 13894, which in turn impose sanctions against those “responsible for, engaging in or engaging in grave human rights violations in Syria” as well as senior officials or entities who own or are under the control of the banned people.

OFAC Director Andrea Gacki said: “Today’s designations promote accountability for abuses committed against the Syrian people and prevent rogues from accessing the international financial system. … This action shows the United States’ strong commitment to targeting human rights violations in Syria regardless of the perpetrator. “