Syrian-American psychotherapist allegedly tortured to death by Assad regime: Rights group

A Syrian-American psychotherapist, who returned to Syria in 2017, was tortured to death by Bashar al-Assad regime forces, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said on Tuesday.

“In May 2024, the family of doctor Majd Kamalmaz began receiving information of his death in a Syrian regime detention center. This came after many attempts by the family to find out anything about his whereabouts since he was first arrested by regime forces on February 15, 2017, at a checkpoint in the al-Mazza neighborhood of Damascus city,” the SNHR said in a statement.

Kamalmaz's family has not heard from him since his detention, the statement added.

“According to intelligence received by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) from his family, Dr. Majd was in good health at the time of his arrest indicating a strong probability that he died due to torture and medical negligence in a regime detention center,” it said.

“SNHR can also confirm that Syrian regime forces did not disclose Dr. Majid's death to his family at the time it took place, nor have they returned his body to his family,” the statement added.

It called for an “immediate launch of an independent investigation into all incidents of arrest and torture that have taken place.”

“The US administration must take every possible measure against the Syrian regime over its killing of a U.S. citizen under torture in this barbaric, unconscionable way,” the statement said.

In March 2011, popular protests erupted in Syria demanding a peaceful transfer of power, but the Assad regime chose to suppress demonstrators militarily, pushing the country into a devastating civil war.

Syria has since witnessed unprecedented devastation and displacement, according to the UN. More than 6 million Syrians have fled the country, with 3 million hosted by Türkiye, and 6.7 million internally displaced.