On Sunday 09 September 2018, we hosted an event entitled ‘Alive in Graves, Alive in our hearts’.
Organised in collaboration with Save The Rest, the event aimed at remembering the plight of detainees inside Assad’s prisons and what measures can be taken to stop the ongoing atrocities.
The event started with a short documentary called Alive in Graves, which was produced by Save the Rest campaign and featured harrowing accounts of the experiences of survivors from Assad’s prisons. Then, an eyewitness account was given by Amena Khoulani, a Syrian woman who was herself imprisoned as well as most members of her family including three brothers who were killed while in captivity. Amena is one of the co-founders of Families For Freedom, a Syrian organisation started by families of detainees demanding freedom for all those inside Assad's prisons.
Mona Zeineddine from The Violations Documentation Center (VDC-Syria), Shaza Alsalmoni from the Syrian Legal Development Programme, and Yasmin Khaled from Save the Rest also gave short talks that covered the issues of documentation of violations as well as the accountability of the Syrian regime. Speakers also touched upon how International Law can be used to stop the atrocities and bring justice to the detainees.
In memory of the activists behind ‘Roses and Water’ initiative who were killed by the Syrian regime, roses and bottles of water were handed out to attendants.
The event attracted a large number of attendants who were deeply touched by the stories they heard. Many of them expressed anguish at the international silence towards the crimes against humanity committed on a daily basis in Syria.
