The daughter of the doctor, Majd Kam Almaz, announced on May 18, 2024, the death of her father under torture after his arrest in the prisons of the Syrian regime forces in 2017.
Mariam Kam Almaz posted on the site X, confirming that the Syrian government had kidnapped her father and killed him in their “notorious” prisons without charging him with a crime or putting him on trial.
Kam Almaz called on the US government to seek justice for her father, “a man of peace and love, and an award-winning psychotherapist”.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Mariam stated that American officials informed her that the death was believed to have occurred around the time of her father’s arrest, due to heart failure in 2017. However, the family clung to hope and continued to pursue what happened to the doctor.
The psychiatrist Kam Almaz, an American citizen of Syrian origin, came from the United States to Lebanon to help Syrian refugees who had been released from the regime’s prisons. He then entered Syria to visit his relatives, only to be arrested after entering Syrian territory in mid-2017, and his family lost contact with him since then.
The FBI stated that the doctor was stopped at a checkpoint belonging to the Syrian regime in a suburb of Damascus, and no news was heard of him since then. In October 2019, the family sent a letter to then-President Trump, requesting his assistance in getting Kam Almaz out of Syria. They said the White House received the letter, but the President did not respond.
After news of his death under torture emerged, there were American calls to condemn the killing of Dr. Kam Almaz.
US Congressman called on his official page on X for President Joe Biden to condemn the killing of Dr. Kam Almaz, urging the Justice Department to initiate a criminal investigation into the case of his “abduction and forced killing”.
The organization HAW, which supports and advocates for the freedom of hostages and illegally detained individuals held in foreign countries worldwide, called for the return of all Americans held “illegally or as hostages” abroad to their home country.
The “Bring Our Families Home” campaign considered the doctor’s death a stark reminder that American lives are at stake when the government “fails” to take swift and decisive action.
Activists and politicians around the world mourned the death of Dr. Majd Kam Almaz and called for those responsible for the crime to be held accountable.
Over the past years, the family of Dr. Kam Almaz repeatedly urged American authorities to intervene. In 2020, high-level American officials visited Damascus to attend a meeting aimed at negotiating the release of Americans detained in the regime’s prisons, but the meeting was unsuccessful.
Kam Almaz is one of many Americans who disappeared in Syria, including journalist Austin Tice, who vanished in 2012 at a checkpoint west of Damascus. The Syrian regime has publicly denied holding any Americans.
The Human Rights Council highlighted the importance of prevention by adopting regular resolutions on “the role of prevention in the promotion and protection of human rights,” and has established specific mechanisms and approaches to prevent certain human rights violations. One of the most advanced examples is the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture.
Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on December 10, 1948, states: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Article 10 states: “All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person”.
International humanitarian law absolutely prohibits torture, meaning that exceptional circumstances during armed conflicts cannot justify violating a person’s dignity.
The “Same Justice” organization emphasizes the necessity of protecting detainees (both Syrian and foreign) from all types of violations and stresses the importance of punishing those who commit crimes that violate international humanitarian law provisions.
