Muslim Organisations, Scholars and Activists Support Syrian’s Right to Resist Assad Dictatorship

London - A joint statement of  81 UK based 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 reaffirms that Al-Assad was a partner in the West's so-called 'War On Terror', and lays out Assad’s well documented extermination of 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. 

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.

1. Muhammad Jalal - The Thinking Muslim
2. Dr. Asim Qureshi - CAGE International
3. Zahid Akhtar - Documenting Oppression Against Muslims (DOAM)
4. Dr. Salman Butt - Head of Islamic Thought, Islam21c
5. Abu Eesa Nematullah - Scholar
6. Umar Muqaddam - Imam & Khateeb
7. Zeeshan Siddiqui - Human Aid & Advocacy Chairman
8. Moazzam Begg - CAGE International
9. Yusuf Patel - Muslim Family Initiative
10. Abdullah Jabbar - War Journalist
11. Azhar Qayum - MEND
12. Robin Yassin-Kassab - Writer
13. Muhammad Ahmad - Ummah Welfare Trust
14. Abdus Saboor - The Muslim Identity
15. Muhammad Uddin - Newham Muslim Forum
16. Ammaar Domun - Darul Ihsaan Barking
17. Mohammed Abubakar Saleem - Imam & Scholar
18. Ibrahim Moiz - Researcher & Historian
19. Mufti Ismail ibn Nazir Satia - Integrative Counsellor
20. Shaykh Hammad al-Madani - Scholar, Author & Researcher
21. Mohammed Patel - Imam
22. Dr. Mufti Yusuf Shabbir - Islamic Portal
23. Muhammad Tahir - Imam
24. Mohammed Anas - Teacher and Imam
25. Farook Kazi - Imam & Faith Leader
26. Mohammed Rahman - Scholar
27. Mufti Dilwar Hussain - Headteacher
28. MD Al Amin - Skilled Worker
29. Abdul Mateen Khandoker - Jamiate Ulama Islam Europe Milton Keynes Branch
30. Deen Sooklall - Chaplain
31. Khabbaab Ahmad - Imam, Batley
32. Abdullah Al-Mawdud - Imam, Newbury Park Masjid
33. Suhail Akubat - Imam
34. Ismail Rawat - Chair, Preston Muslim Forum 
35. Bodrul Hussain - Khatib and Imam
36. Mufti Yousaf Baig - Teacher & Therapist
37. Abdul Ghafoor Salloo - Imam
38. Kazi Abdul Kadir - Imam, Chaplain and TV Presenter 
39. Fadel Soliman - Director of Bridges foundation
40. Majid Freeman - Citizen Journalist and Activist
41. Ismail Patel - Imam
42. Zaid Tootla - Madrasah Al Furqan
43. Nazmul Islam - Turners Road and Locksley Imam
44. Shamoly Hoque - Community Organiser 
45. Raza Ali - Imam
46. Sa’id Looch - Hirasah
47. Misbah Chowdhury - Imam and Teacher
48. Mohammed Atiq - Imam
49. Shaykh Ibrahim Ali - Scholar
50. Shaqur Rehman - Islamic Scholar and Imam
51. Misbah Waziri - Director of Lighthouse Advocacy
52. Zein Khalifa - Newham Muslim Youth
53. Shah Hamzah Ahmed - Teacher & Imam, Motala Foundation
54. Eleanor Pritchard - Human Rights Activist
55. Rana Kabbani - Writer
56. Tahmid Ahmed - Chaplain
57. Hamid Mahmood - Headteacher, Fatima Elizabeth Phrontistery
58. Mohammed Abu Amirah - Imam
59. Sarah Shahbazi - The Advocacy Academy
60. Mufti Salim Patel - Imam
61. Ayaat Yassin-Kassab - Journalist
62. Nadeem Attar - Consultant
63. Wahid Azizi - Khateeb
64. Ismail Y Syed - Jurist and Former Lecturer in Islamic Studies
65. Hafizur Rahman - Khateeb
66. Ridwan Rashid - Muslim Youth Network
67. Anisa Islam - Trainee Clinical Scientist & Head of Safinah Collective
68. Taslima Begum - Nakheel Women's Group
69. Abu Faaris - Bromley by Bow Ikhwah
70. Umair Zulfiqar - World Islamic Forum
71. Umer Suleman - Islamic Finance Expert
72. Moinul Abu Hamza - Jurist & Community Worker
73. Razaull Ahmed - Ikhwa
74. Atif Hussain - The Muslim Collab
75. Syed Nizamul Hoque - As-Subah Academy
76. Shaykh Sikander Iqbal - Voice Of Truth
77. Shaykh Abbas Ali - Voice Of Truth
78. Usman Iqbal - Imam
79. Mehboob Khan - R3run Luton - Editor
80. Taji Mustafa - Islamic Activist
81. Ahmad Yasin - Enterprise Data Architect and Lecturer