UK rally to demand freedom for jailed Syrian women

An international rights group will hold a protest in London on International Women’s Day to call on the global community to take urgent action to secure the release of women and children in Syrian prisons.

The Conscience Movement will hold a protest in front of government offices at 10 Downing Street on 8th March.

According to the movement, more than 13,500 women have been jailed since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011, while more than 7,000 women remain in detention and are subjected to torture, rape and sexual violence.

During question time at the House of Lords on Monday, Baroness Manzila Pola Uddin, Britain’s first female Muslim member of the parliament, also called for the support of women and children imprisoned by the Assad regime.

READ: Layla Shweikani and the Syrian women the world ignores

The baroness said that the UK has “failed fundamentally” the women and children in Syria who remain unlawfully detained and exposed to torture and rape.

The Conscience Movement was founded last year after an all-woman international convoy made global headlines by raising awareness about the abuses suffered by women jailed by the Assad regime.