Former Jaysh al-Islam spokesperson Majdi Nehme, known as “Islam Alloush,” who has been detained in French prisons for years, called on Syrian authorities to intervene to transfer his trial from France to Syria, saying that continuing to try him before the French judiciary affects Syrian state sovereignty.

Nehme issued an open message addressed to the Syrian president and the ministers of defense, foreign affairs, and justice, urging them to act urgently on his case and contact the French side.

Nehme said in an audio message that he had chosen to delay addressing his appeal for a year and a half after Syria’s liberation, believing that the new leadership was occupied with the challenges and files imposed by the transitional phase.

However, he said the wait had become too long without his case receiving any attention, although he was among those who fought “in defense of their country against the former regime.”

The Paris Criminal Court sentenced the former Jaysh al-Islam spokesperson to 10 years in prison for his role in violations committed in Syria.

The court decision, issued on May 28, 2025, came after the Paris public prosecutor had requested two days earlier that Nehme be sentenced to 10 years in prison, with a minimum detention period before parole amounting to two-thirds of the sentence, on charges of participating in a plan to commit war crimes.

Call on al-Sharaa to Transfer His Trial to Syria

In his message to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Nehme said the new authority’s tasks include rebuilding what the previous phase destroyed, doing justice to the wronged, and restoring Syrians’ dignity.

He criticized the trial of Syrians before foreign courts in cases filed by Syrians and related to events that took place inside Syrian territory, considering it a diminution of Syrian sovereignty.

He also said the French Court of Cassation justified its jurisdiction to try him because the Syrian state had not requested him, calling on the Syrian president to contact his French counterpart to request the transfer of his trial to Syria and stressing his readiness to appear before the Syrian judiciary.

Prosecution Affects the Defense Ministry and Its Members

In his message to Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra, Nehme said his trial is linked to his membership in armed groups, some of whose members have become part of the formations of the Syrian Ministry of Defense. He considered that his prosecution affects the institution and its members.

He asked the minister to contact the French Ministry of Defense and call for respect for the existing partnership between the two countries, and to reject the trial of any member of the Syrian Ministry of Defense outside his country.

Harsh Detention Conditions

In his message to Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister Asaad al-Shibani, Nehme spoke about his detention conditions, saying he had not received any consular visit since his arrest.

He said he is prevented from performing prayers and suffers from health problems because of limited movement, as the distance he can walk does not exceed three steps, in addition to being deprived of seeing the sun.

He also said he is subjected to searches while being stripped of his clothes three times a day.

He asked the Foreign Ministry to intervene with French authorities to change what he described as inhumane treatment and work to transfer his case to Syria.

At the end of his message, he called on Syrian Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais to act within the framework of judicial cooperation with France to demand the transfer of his trial to Syria, and to remind the French side of what was stated in French judicial decisions about the end of French jurisdiction if the concerned state requests the wanted person.

He also considered that trying Syrians before the French judiciary in cases related to events that took place inside Syria constitutes an infringement on Syrian state sovereignty and interference in its internal affairs.

Who Is Majdi Nehme?

Majdi Nehme is a defected officer from the former Syrian Regime forces who worked as spokesperson for Jaysh al-Islam in Eastern Ghouta (Rural Damascus) until 2017, then submitted his resignation and went to Turkey.

In late 2019, Majdi Nehme traveled to France to continue his education, before being arrested about three months later over a lawsuit filed by the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, the International Federation for Human Rights, and the French League for Human Rights against Jaysh al-Islam.

According to the Syrian Center, the indictment included “execution without trial, systematic kidnapping and torture against men, women, and children, and the group’s targeting of persons suspected of colluding with the regime and ordinary civilians accused of not strictly applying the sharia imposed by the group, or because they belong to religious minorities.”

Human Rights Watch also accused Jaysh al-Islam of committing “war crimes” for using detainees it held as “human shields,” including civilians, by placing them in iron cages distributed across Eastern Ghouta in October 2015.

In November 2023, Alloush’s defense lawyer, Raphaël Kempf, confirmed to Enab Baladi that the Paris Court of Appeal had annulled the procedures taken against his client, adding that he was not guilty of the war crime of hostage taking and kidnapping, which meant his acquittal of the charge of killing Syrian activist Razan Zaitouneh and a group of activists.

Kempf added that the Paris Court of Appeal decided to refer “Islam Alloush” to the criminal court on charges of complicity in committing war crimes in Syria between 2013 and 2016.

Majdi Nehme told the French judiciary that he was merely an “influenceless” spokesperson for Jaysh al-Islam, which had influence in Eastern Ghouta.