Syrian regime sued in US court for torture of Syrian-American

A suit was filed against the Syrian Arab Republic in a Washington, DC court for "widespread and systematic torture in its detention centres", the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) revealed on Wednesday.

CJA co-filed the suit on behalf of Obada Mzaik, a Syrian-American who was imprisoned and tortured by Syrian Airforce Intelligence in 2012.

Mzaik is suing the Syrian regime for compensatory and punitive damages.

Thus far, the Syrian regime has not responded to the suit.

"I am filing this lawsuit in the name of all the many Syrians who were tortured in detention centres, but don’t have the opportunity to obtain justice," Mzaik said.

The Syrian regime is notorious for the network of detention centres it operates across Syria and the brutal torture committed against detainees throughout.

There are more than 130,000 Syrians in regime prisons, many of whose whereabouts and status are completely unknown to their families.

"US courts have broad jurisdiction against state sponsors of torture, and we expect to prove that our client’s torture was carried out as part of a state-sanctioned policy and practice by Syria," said Lee Rovinescu, a partner at Freshfields Bruckhause Deringer LLP, which co-filed the lawsuit.

Mzaik was arrested while visiting his family in Syria and was forced to sign a false confession which stated he was involved in anti-regime activities.

He was then transferred to the Airforce Intelligence Directorate Central Branch at the Mezzeh Military Airport.

The branch is known to have one of the highest mortality rates of all detention centres throughout Syria and is particularly infamous for its officers' sadistic torture methods.

Mzaik was imprisoned for over three weeks, where he was subject to beatings, forced into a small, pest-infested cell with other detainees and tortured him until he confessed to more alleged anti-regime acts.

Eventually, his family was able to secure his release from prison by bribing a high-ranking Syrian security official.

CJA was able to file the lawsuit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which allows US citizens to sue states that are listed by the US as sponsors of terrorism and commit acts like torture, extra-judicial killing and hostage-taking.

The US designated Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979.

The lawsuit is a civil case against the Syrian regime and would not result in the imprisonment of Syrian officials but would indict the regime's policy of systematic torture and arbitrary detainment.

Recent cases against war crimes committed in Syria, such as those in Germany and France, have resulted in the sentencing of current or former Syrian officials under the concept of universal jurisdiction.

In Germany, Anwar Raslan, a former officer in Syria's security services, was convicted in German courts in January 2022 for crimes against humanity committed in Syria, including torture and rape.

On 29 March, French judges ordered three senior Syrian officials, including Ali Mamlouk, Syria's intelligence chief, to stand trial for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes.

France has issued international arrest warrants for the three Syrian officials, though they are expected to be tried in absentia.

CJA's lawsuit has also galvanized a coalition of Syrian civil society organisations to launch a campaign "Free Syria's Disappeared" seeking the release of the 130,000 Syrians held in Syrian detention centres.

"The facts will be heard by the US court and these must shake the US government, as well as European governments into action. They should be doing much, much more to stop the Assad regime's ongoing crimes," Wafa Mustafa, a Syrian journalist and activist who is a part of the campaign, said.