Syria: University professor accused of handing students over to Assad regime dismissed 

The Syrian Ministry of Higher Education yesterday suspended a university lecturer who is accused of handing over students to former President Bashar Al-Assad’s security services.

Dr Nahla Asaf Issa, a member of the Faculty of Media at Damascus University, has been referred for investigation after students held a protest in front of the college demanding her departure and accusing her of being “involved in handing over more than 200 male and female students to the security branches of the deposed Assad regime based on insubstantial charges.”

According to sources from the Ministry of Media, the decision was made following the efforts and documented complaints submitted by faculty members since the day the regime fell and extensive activity by Faculty of Media graduates to expose her role in the disappearance and arrest of dozens of male and female students from the college.

Tamer Turkmani, a human rights activist, said: “[Issa] had a hand in the arrest of about 200 students from the Faculties of Arts and Media at Damascus University, since the beginning of the Syrian revolution.”

“She was the only source of terror for all free students at the university. Some of the students who were arrested by the security forces were in the exam halls and the hall was raided and they were arrested. She has now returned to the university insolently to carry out her work normally, despite being considered one of the most prominent instigators of the killing of the residents of the areas that have left the control of the defunct Syrian regime.”

READ: Remains of 7 people recovered from a well in the Hama countryside