A joint statement of 81 British Muslim organisations, scholars and activists has defended the “right of the Syrian people to resist against Bashar Al-Assad’s genocidal regime.”
The statement asserts the “moral legitimacy of the Syrian revolution” and denounces claims of the Syrian regime being anti-imperialist.
Instead, it states that Al-Assad was a partner in the West’s “War On Terror,” and says that Assad tried to exterminate his own people.
The statement goes further to condemn “the denial of the Syrian people’s agency” by some voices on the Left – through “the recycling of conspiracy theories, securitised discourses, and Islamophobic narratives championed by neoconservatives and Zionists alike.”
It comes as Syrian rebels have made lightening advances throughout Syria’s north and are now threatening the very existence of the Assad regime.
The rebel advance also seems to have broken the unity that existed between a wide coalition of pro-Palestine activists who differed on their approach to the Syrian conflict, igniting tensions which have mainly played out online.
Some pro-Palestinian groups have aligned with the Assad regime due to its historical support for anti-Israel movements like Hezbollah and Hamas. They see Assad as a bulwark against Western and Israeli influence in the region which is now being threatened by the Syrian rebels.
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On the other hand, many pro-Palestinian activists criticise Assad for his brutal suppression of dissent during the Syrian civil war. They argue that supporting Assad contradicts the values of justice and human rights central to the Palestinian cause.
Read the statement in full:
Joint Statement: Statement of Unity in Support of the Syrian People’s Right to Resist the Assad Dictatorship
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “O Allah! Bestow Your blessings on our Sham.”
We affirm the undeniable right of the Syrian people to resist the genocidal regime of Bashar Al-Assad, just as we support the rights of the Palestinians to struggle for freedom.
The Syrian revolution, which emerged in 2011 as part of the broader Arab Spring, was a response to decades of brutal repression. Al-Assad’s war of extermination against his own people has resulted in over 600,000 killed, the displacement of more than 14 million, the arrest of over 130,000, and the torture and murder of over 15,000 in Assad’s dungeons in the most inhumane conditions imaginable.
The atrocities perpetrated by Al-Assad and his allies are well-documented: the indiscriminate use of barrel bombs, chemical weapons, deliberate starvation, systematic rape, summary executions, protesters buried alive, mutilation, and more.
This reign of terror echoes the legacy of his father, Hafez Al-Assad, who slaughtered up to 40,000 civilians in the city of Hama in 1982 following an uprising.
Syria’s regime is not an anti-imperialist post-colonial state but rather embodies the very practices and structures of colonial oppression through its ruthless national security industrial complex.
Far from opposing imperialism, Bashar Al-Assad was a complicit partner in the West’s so-called “War on Terror.” The CIA outsourced, through kidnap and rendition, several individuals to Bashar. Former CIA officer, Robert Baer, said of their relationship: “If you want them tortured, you send them to Syria.”
Notable survivors of this collaboration include Canadians Maher Arar, Abdullah Almalki, Muayyad Nureddin, Ahmad Abou El-Maati, German citizen Mohammed Haydar Zammar and Spanish citizen Mustafa Setmariam Nasar.
The denial of the Syrian people’s agency by some in the Left, through the recycling of conspiracy theories, securitised discourses and Islamophobic narratives that are championed by neoconservatives and Zionists alike, is a profound betrayal.
The histories of Syria and Palestine are deeply intertwined; an attack on one is an attack on all the peoples of the Levant.
Muhammad Jalal – The Thinking Muslim
Dr. Asim Qureshi – CAGE International
Zahid Akhtar – Documenting Oppression Against Muslims (DOAM)
Dr. Salman Butt – Head of Islamic Thought, Islam21c
Abu Eesa Nematullah – Schola
Umar Muqaddam – Imam & Khateeb
Zeeshan Siddiqui – Human Aid & Advocacy Chairman
Moazzam Begg – CAGE International
Yusuf Patel – Muslim Family Initiative
Abdullah Jabbar – War Journalist
Azhar Qayum – MEND
Robin Yassin-Kassab – Writer
Muhammad Ahmad – Ummah Welfare Trust
Abdus Saboor – The Muslim Identity
Muhammad Uddin – Newham Muslim Forum
Ammaar Domun – Darul Ihsaan Barking
Mohammed Abubakar Saleem – Imam & Scholar
Ibrahim Moiz – Researcher & Historian
Mufti Ismail ibn Nazir Satia – Integrative Counsellor
Shaykh Hammad al-Madani – Scholar, Author & Researcher
Mohammed Patel – Imam
Dr. Mufti Yusuf Shabbir – Islamic Portal
Muhammad Tahir – Imam
Mohammed Anas – Teacher and Imam
Farook Kazi – Imam & Faith Leader
Mohammed Rahman – Scholar
Mufti Dilwar Hussain – Headteacher
MD Al Amin – Skilled Worker
Abdul Mateen Khandoker – Jamiate Ulama Islam Europe Milton Keynes Branch
Deen Sooklall – Chaplain
Khabbaab Ahmad – Imam, Batley
Abdullah Al-Mawdud – Imam, Newbury Park Masjid
Suhail Akubat – Imam
Ismail Rawat – Chair, Preston Muslim Forum
Bodrul Hussain – Khatib and Imam
Mufti Yousaf Baig – Teacher & Therapist
Abdul Ghafoor Salloo – Imam
Kazi Abdul Kadir – Imam, Chaplain and TV Presenter
Fadel Soliman – Director of Bridges foundation
Majid Freeman – Citizen Journalist and Activist
Ismail Patel – Imam
Zaid Tootla – Madrasah Al Furqan
Nazmul Islam – Turners Road and Locksley Imam
Shamoly Hoque – Community Organiser
Raza Ali – Imam
Sa’id Looch – Hirasah
Misbah Chowdhury – Imam and Teacher
Mohammed Atiq – Imam
Shaykh Ibrahim Ali – Scholar
Shaqur Rehman – Islamic Scholar and Imam
Misbah Waziri – Director of Lighthouse Advocacy
Zein Khalifa – Newham Muslim Youth
Shah Hamzah Ahmed – Teacher & Imam, Motala Foundation
Eleanor Pritchard – Human Rights Activist
Rana Kabbani – Writer
Tahmid Ahmed – Chaplain
Hamid Mahmood – Headteacher, Fatima Elizabeth Phrontistery
Mohammed Abu Amirah – Imam
Sarah Shahbazi – The Advocacy Academy
Mufti Salim Patel – Imam
Ayaat Yassin-Kassab – Journalist
Nadeem Attar – Consultant
Wahid Azizi – Khateeb
Ismail Y Syed – Jurist and Former Lecturer in Islamic Studies
Hafizur Rahman – Khateeb
Ridwan Rashid – Muslim Youth Network
Anisa Islam – Trainee Clinical Scientist & Head of Safinah Collective
Taslima Begum – Nakheel Women’s Group
Abu Faaris – Bromley by Bow Ikhwah
Umair Zulfiqar – World Islamic Forum
Umer Suleman – Islamic Finance Expert
Moinul Abu Hamza – Jurist & Community Worker
Razaull Ahmed – Ikhwa
Atif Hussain – The Muslim Collab
Syed Nizamul Hoque – As-Subah Academy
Shaykh Sikander Iqbal – Voice Of Truth
Shaykh Abbas Ali – Voice Of Truth
Usman Iqbal – Imam
Mehboob Khan – R3run Luton – Editor
Taji Mustafa – Islamic Activist
Ahmad Yasin – Enterprise Data Architect and Lecturer
