EGN NEWS DESK
Since an American therapist from Texas disappeared whereas visiting Syria in 2017, his household has navigated years of milestones in uncertainty: his forty first wedding ceremony anniversary, the births of 4 grandchildren, his spouse’s most cancers analysis.
Earlier this month, at a resort in Washington, nationwide safety officers informed the household that extremely credible, labeled info indicated the therapist, Majd Kamalmaz, had died in captivity, held in one of many world’s most infamous jail methods.
Mr. Kamalmaz’s family members intend to grieve quickly, lastly, at a mosque and on the household’s residence in Grand Prairie, Texas. They had hoped for a distinct end result, however now that they’ve accepted the information, his daughters stated they’d combat to carry Syria accountable for his or her father’s detainment and demise. The household plans to sue the Syrian authorities for damages and to hunt justice for others nonetheless in detention.
“They actually kidnapped him and disappeared him,” stated Mr. Kamalmaz’s older daughter, Ula Kamalmaz. “We’ve heard nothing from them. That’s unacceptable.”
Mr. Kamalmaz is one among a number of Americans who’ve disappeared in Syria. Austin Tice, a contract journalist masking the nation’s civil battle, was kidnapped exterior Damascus in 2012. Layla Shweikani, 26, an American assist employee, was arrested, accused of terrorism and executed. The Justice Department is investigating her 2016 demise as a battle crime carried out by Syrian intelligence officers.
Confirmation of Mr. Kamalmaz’s demise, which has not beforehand been reported, underscores the brutal detainment and torture in secret prisons in Syria which have flourished below President Bashar al-Assad. Syria denies that it makes use of torture and different abuses to silence dissent.
In Syria, residents and foreigners vanish with no rationalization. The authorities refuses to say whether or not detainees are alive or dead, and it makes use of them as tacit leverage in negotiations with the West. When U.S. officers traveled to Syria in 2020 to debate the potential launch of hostages, together with Mr. Kamalmaz, he had possible already died, years earlier. Families are left in limbo, enduring a crushing cycle of hope and despair that may final years.
The Kamalmaz case exhibits how tough it’s for households and different nations to carry Mr. al-Assad accountable. Most of the world shunned Syria in 2013, after it was accused of utilizing chemical weapons by itself residents. But it has edged again onto the world stage, strengthening its ties with Iran, China and Russia. Before the battle in Gaza, Arab states have been reopening strains of communication with Syria.
“Pursuing accountability for Majd is symbolic and a measure of justice” for these detainees who’ve perished or stay in Syria’s dungeons, stated Mouaz Moustafa, the chief director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, an advocacy group.
Mr. Kamalmaz, then 59, was working a nonprofit in Lebanon serving to refugees cope with trauma when he drove to Syria in mid-February 2017 to go to a relative who had most cancers. Once in Damascus, he known as his spouse to inform her that he had arrived safely. The household by no means heard from him once more. As within the case of Mr. Tice, Syria by no means acknowledged holding Mr. Kamalmaz, and there was little details about his whereabouts.
Syria is “a really darkish black field,” stated Mr. Kamalmaz’s different daughter, Maryam.
But in January 2020, F.B.I. brokers visited the household’s residence in Texas. The U.S. authorities had info that Mr. Kamalmaz had suffered a coronary heart failure in Syria and died, they stated.
That summer time, family members traveled to Washington, the place F.B.I. brokers confirmed them a doc, written in Arabic, that indicated Mr. Kamalmaz had been taken to the hospital with coronary heart failure however that medical doctors had did not revive him. It was dated June 2017.
“The date on that doc simply blew our thoughts,” Maryam Kamalmaz stated. Her father had been in good well being, making his demise solely 4 months after being detained seem extra unbelievable. “We questioned that paper due to the date. It didn’t make any sense.”
She added, “How may he endure from a coronary heart assault and die except they did one thing to him?”
The household additionally sought the assistance of the Czech ambassador on the time, who typically acted as an middleman for the reason that United States minimize off formal diplomatic ties with Syria.
Mr. Moustafa stated he and his analysis group strongly suspect that Mr. Kamalmaz was imprisoned, not less than for a few of his time in Syria, at a facility on the Mezze air base in Damascus, which is thought for its harsh situations and brutal torture. The advanced was then managed by Jamil Hassan, the chief of the Air Force Intelligence Directorate.
The United States has imposed sanctions on Mr. Hassan, and the Justice Department is investigating him as a part of its inquiry into the demise of Ms. Shweikani, the help employee. The German authorities have additionally sought his arrest.
Years handed with no extra insights into what occurred to Mr. Kamalmaz. His forty first anniversary got here and went in October. His household, together with his 4 kids, stored ready.
Then finality got here in early May at a Marriot Courtyard in Washington, on the assembly with U.S. officers, together with F.B.I. brokers. Eight officers affirmed the delicate info that led the federal government to its conclusion. Maryam Kamalmaz declined to specify what the officers had supplied her, however she stated, “it was convincing after listening to what number of ranges of investigation it went via.”
She pressed every official. After greater than two hours, her doubts had dissipated. “There is not any extra hope,” she stated.
