Activists have launched the “Syrians are not Numbers” campaign in response to the torture and execution of detainees photographed in Damascus’ Mezzah Military Hospital 601.
Campaign founder Rami al-Asheq told Zaman al-Wasl that the campaign began after discovering many friends among the thousands of photos portraying mass atrocities inside regime prisons, recently leaked by the anonymous source ‘Caesar’.
Asheq claims the campaign began with the help of Mais Edward and Eiad Charbaji, who live in Sweden and the US, respectively.
“Activists decided to unite their effort, therefore, writer Gharam al-Hussin created a facebook page for the campaign in Arabic and English, supported by activist and doctor Liat Banna, while Tamer Turkmani designed the cover picture, which was a poster presenting a collection of martyrs’ photos.”
Asheq confirmed that many activists have supported the campaign behind the scenes, describing the campaign as an organized reaction to the ‘crime of the century’, which came to light by Caesar’s leaked photos.
According to Asheq, activists started to communicate with the families of torture victims who now hold dual nationalities, to encourage them to pursue criminal lawsuits against the Syrian regime in their new countries.
“It’s the only way to get around the Russian and Chinese veto against issuing any condemnation from the Security Council. It is a huge crime and we need to work effectively to bring appropriate justice, so these people are not only numbers for TV and newspapers”, Asheq explained.
