☦️ ✝️ 🇬🇷🇻🇦 — The Pastoral Committees of the Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Greek Melkite Catholic churches have issued a statement condemning the arbitrary detentions of their faithful from Saidnaya (the village - not to be confused with Sednaya prison).
The Christian faithful are incited against by Syrian "electronic flies" (online bots) under the allegation of being "shabiha" (thugs of the former regime).
Public celebrations of the Feast of the Transfiguration, the Feast of the Holy Cross, and the Feast of Hagia Sophia will be cancelled until justice is achieved for their people.
Statement Issued by the Pastoral Committees of the Greek Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, Greek Melkite Catholic, and Syriac Catholic Churches in Saidnaya
As this year’s blessed feast season approaches, it comes while a number of our sons continue to be arbitrarily detained without any legal justification, and without being granted any judicial rights, despite our continuous appeals to the security and judicial authorities and the repeated promises that the detainees would be released due to the absence of any evidence supporting the accusations against them.
At the same time, our people from Saidnaya continue to face degrading treatment at the border crossing (the newly established Yabous crossing), where every person from Saidnaya is stopped for several hours, photographed, and their photo is sent for review before they are eventually allowed to pass—without any consideration for the elderly or women.
Furthermore, we continue to witness ongoing incitement, intimidation, and threats against the town’s residents through social media, as well as repeated provocations targeting the town’s youth by individuals described as “electronic flies”. This comes in addition to the deteriorating security situation, marked by increasing thefts and kidnappings in recent times.
Therefore, the pastoral committees representing all Christian denominations in Saidnaya, together with the Reverend Fathers George Najmeh, Fadioul Najar, and Taher Youssef, have decided the following:
To cancel all public celebrations of the Feast of the Transfiguration, the Feast of the Holy Cross, and the Feast of Hagia Sophia for this year, limiting observances to liturgical services held inside the churches.
To continue suspending all public celebrations and activities until our detained sons are released and the kidnapped individuals are returned, particularly through closing the Saidnaya file, ending the targeting of our youth with baseless accusations, and halting these practices.
Justice must be impartial rather than selective. It is preferable that all cases be opened and all those responsible regardless of who they are be held accountable, accompanied by genuine reconciliation with the past that is consistent with the aspiration to build a new Syria founded on justice, citizenship, and freedom.
The people of Saidnaya will exercise all constitutional rights available to every Syrian citizen and will express their views in the civilized manner for which they are known, should they conclude that legal and legislative avenues have been exhausted, in order to secure the return of our people and the protection of our rights.
