London rally to demand freedom for jailed Syrian women

By Meryem Goktas

ANKARA (AA) - An international rights group will hold a protest in the British capital on Friday to call on the global community to take urgent action to secure the release of women and children languishing in Syrian prisons.

The Conscience Movement will hold a protest in front of government offices at 10 Downing Street in London as part of its international action plan on March 8, International Women’s Day.

The movement is an alliance of individuals, rights groups and organizations aiming to secure urgent action for the release of women and children in the prisons of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime.

According to the movement, more than 13,500 women have been jailed since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011, while more than 7,000 women remain in detention, where they are subjected to torture, rape and sexual violence.

Under the slogan “Freedom for all” and “Because We are Human” the movement will start its rally at 11 a.m. local time.

The movement has planned various protests across the world on March 8 including in countries such as Turkey, Syria, Germany, South Africa, Malaysia, Chile, Belgium, Pakistan and Australia.

During question time at the House of Lords on Monday, Baroness Manzila Pola Uddin -- who is Britain’s first female Muslim member of the parliament -- also called for the support of women and children imprisoned by the Assad regime.

The baroness said that the U.K. has “failed fundamentally” the women and children in Syria who remain unlawfully detained and exposed to torture and rape.

The Conscience Movement was founded last year after an all-woman international convoy made global headlines by raising awareness about the abuses suffered by women jailed by the Assad regime.

In March of last year, the 55-bus convoy made a three-day journey from Istanbul to Turkey’s southern Hatay province near the Syrian border, where 10,000 women staged a massive rally marking International Women's Day.

On Feb. 20, the international initiative held a conference in Istanbul that drew participants from 45 countries, including Syria, Britain, South Africa, Ecuador, Qatar, Kenya, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Greece, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Malaysia.

According to UN figures, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed or displaced in the conflict, mainly by regime airstrikes in opposition-held areas.