The family of Majdi Nema, also known by his wartime alias Islam Alloush, the former spokesperson for Jaysh al-Islam who has been imprisoned in France for years, has appealed to Damascus to take action on his case.

The family revealed that the Syrian Ministry of Justice submitted an official letter through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but France had not responded by the time this report was published.

Ahmed Yassin, a close friend of Nema who has been tasked by his family with following the case, told Enab Baladi that the family contacted the Syrian government to request his return to Syria.

France relied on universal jurisdiction in prosecuting Nema.

The family repeatedly contacted Syria’s Ministry of Justice, which recently sent a letter through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the French authorities. However, the French side ignored the request, according to Yassin.

The family has received no update regarding the Syrian request, either from the French side or from Syria’s ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice, Yassin added.

Enab Baladi contacted the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on September 2 to ask about the latest developments in Nema’s case and the letter submitted by the Ministry of Justice through the ministry.

Enab Baladi again sent the inquiry to the Syrian Foreign Ministry through its media department, but received no immediate response.

Nema’s family hopes the Syrian side will continue pursuing his case and press the French authorities to return him to Syria so that his trial can continue in his home country.

According to Yassin, the family also asked the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide them with a copy of the letter it sent to the French side so they could include it in the defense file and submit it to the French court as evidence that Syria is requesting his return.

Audio Recording

Nema, the former spokesperson for Jaysh al-Islam, had previously called on the Syrian authorities to intervene to transfer his trial from France to Syria, arguing that his continued prosecution before French courts infringes on Syrian state sovereignty.

In an open message issued last June, Nema appealed to the Syrian president and the ministers of Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Justice, urging them to take immediate action on his case and contact the French side.

Nema said in an audio message that he had chosen to postpone his appeal for a year and a half after the “liberation of Syria,” believing the new leadership was occupied with the challenges and issues imposed by the transitional period.

However, he said too much time had passed without his case receiving any attention, despite being among those who fought “in defense of their country against the former regime.”

Yassin contacted the Syrian consulate in Paris and asked officials to visit Nema, as they would any Syrian citizen, and assess his situation.

However, according to an email from the Syrian embassy dated August 26 and reviewed by Enab Baladi, the embassy said it had received no response from the French side to Yassin’s request. The embassy promised to update the family if a response was received.

What Are the Latest Developments?

Yassin said Nema’s team of French lawyers, headed by attorney Raphaël Kempf, succeeded in clearing him of the main charges of kidnapping, enforced disappearance, torture, and murder, as well as other accusations including communicating with Iraqi terrorist groups and carrying out bombings in Istanbul.

Nema was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of membership in Jaysh al-Islam and intending to carry out terrorist acts. Yassin described those accusations as “baseless” and said they represented a “defeat and failure” for the parties that brought the case against him.

Nema was also tried on a charge of recruiting children. Although the French prosecutor requested that the charge be dropped, the judge rejected the request and included it in the conviction, which Yassin described as “unjust.”

Nema rejected the ruling and decided to appeal, “in defense of the revolution and so as not to open the door for the prosecution to criminalize any other faction or leaders,” according to Yassin.

Yassin said appeal arguments are scheduled to begin in early July 2027.

Separately, Yassin contacted Brian Mast, chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, seeking a meeting to raise Nema’s case following the French side’s lack of response to the Syrian request and to discuss possible solutions and future steps toward securing his release and return to Syria.

A meeting with Mast has been scheduled for Wednesday next week, according to Yassin.

What Are the Conditions of His Detention?

Nema is facing difficult conditions in the French prison and was subjected to rough treatment during his arrest, according to his family and previous statements he made.

The first photograph of him following his arrest showed visible bruising on his face.

In the audio recording, Nema said he had been prevented from praying and was suffering health problems because of limited movement.

Yassin called on the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene with the French authorities to change what he described as “inhumane treatment” and to work toward transferring Nema’s case to Syria.

Yassin said Nema suffers from varicose veins, which affect blood vessels, because he is unable to walk sufficiently. He added that Nema also suffers from a neurological condition resulting from what Yassin described as the “criminal” manner in which he was treated during his arrest, treatment he said “has nothing to do with human rights, or even animal rights.”

He added that Nema is held in a cell where he can walk only three steps and is stripped of his clothes every day for searches.

The prison administration deducts the equivalent of 30% of the $800 in monthly spending money sent by his family, on the grounds that the money goes to victims’ families, despite the dismissal of the charges of kidnapping, enforced disappearance, and torture, according to Yassin.

Nema is permitted to communicate only by telephone, and only with his mother.

Who Is Majdi Nema?

Majdi Nema is an officer who defected from the former regime’s forces and served as spokesperson for Jaysh al-Islam in Eastern Ghouta (Rural Damascus) until 2017, when he resigned and moved to Turkey.

In late 2019, Nema traveled to France to continue his studies. He was arrested about three months later in connection with a complaint filed against Jaysh al-Islam by the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the Human Rights League (LDH).

According to the Syrian Center, the indictment included allegations of “extrajudicial executions, kidnapping and systematic torture against men, women and children,” and accused Jaysh al-Islam of targeting people suspected of collaborating with the regime, ordinary civilians accused of failing to follow the group’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, and members of religious minorities.

In November 2023, Nema’s defense lawyer, Raphaël Kempf, previously told Enab Baladi that the Paris Court of Appeal had annulled proceedings taken against his client, adding that Nema was not guilty of the war crime of hostage-taking and kidnapping. Kempf said this meant he had been cleared of responsibility for the killing of Syrian activist Razan Zaitouneh and a group of other activists.

Kempf added that the Paris Court of Appeal decided to refer Nema to a criminal court on a charge of complicity in war crimes committed in Syria between 2013 and 2016.

Majdi Nema told the French judiciary that he had merely been a spokesperson “with no influence” for Jaysh al-Islam, which held power in Eastern Ghouta.

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