Protest in Geneva targets Syrian detentions

By Fatih Erel

GENEVA (AA) - Members of the Syrian opposition delegation who participated in recent peace talks gathered in front of United Nations building in Geneva on Wednesday to protest against detentions by the Syrian regime.

"We are Syrian families demanding freedom for all the country's sons and daughters. These demands are not just for our own families, but for every Syrian family with a detainee. Our position is against enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention by the Syrian regime and all parties to the conflict," the members of the Syrian opposition delegation said in Arabic and English.

"We, as families, demand the immediate release of our relatives who have been unlawfully detained," they said.

The 50 protesters or so called for pressuring the Syrian regime and all warring sides to immediately release the detainees, whose names were included in a list, along with their current locations and statuses, and to immediately stop torture and mistreatment.

The head of the opposition delegation, Nasr al-Hariri wrote the names of detainees on a sheet of paper which he placed on the ground in front of UN Office in Geneva.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on Wednesday will meet separately with the delegations of Syrian regime and opposition on the second day of a sixth round of peace talks in Geneva.

The current round of talks is expected to end on Friday. The delegation from the Syrian regime is headed by Bashar Jaafari. The opposition is led by Nasr al-Hariri from the High Negotiations Committee.

The main discussions are to focus on a new constitution, governance, elections and the fight against terrorism.

Upon arrival in Geneva on Monday, Hariri said: "The road to Syria's freedom runs through Geneva.

“That is why we have come here, committed to negotiate a political solution. And that is why [Bashar al-] Assad is frightened of this process. He is afraid to engage with the agenda of political transition."

"We will engage constructively [with] the UN Special Envoy’s agenda. The key to progress is political transition, to a free Syria that has no place for terrorism and Bashar al-Assad," Hariri added.

The last round of talks began on March 23 and ended on March 31 without any clear result.

Since civil war in Syria erupted in March 2011, more than 250,000 people have been killed, according to the UN. The Syrian Center for Policy Research puts the death toll at more than 470,000.