International law should be respected

The recent release of a group of nuns from the Syrian Christian town of Maalula who were held captive for nearly three months came after agonising negotiations sponsored by Qatar between Syrian authorities and the Nusra Front that kept them as hostages. 

The trade-off resulting in the release of the nuns and the freeing of over 100 Syrian women detained or imprisoned by Damascus looks benign enough on the surface, but is anything of the sort on a closer look. 

For starters, Al Qaeda affiliate that detained the nuns for such a long time should have never taken any hostages to achieve any of their demands, regardless how legitimate they view them. And they should have never thought of taking clergy as prisoners no matter what, to use them as tools for prosecuting their armed conflict with the Syrian government.

It is simply sacrilegious and contrary to all international norms to hold nuns, or any people for that matter, captive for the purpose of exchanging them for prisoners held by the Syrian regime. 

Likewise, Damascus should never place women and men in arbitrary detention without fair trials that meet international standards. 

International human rights organisations, including the UN Human Rights Council, have long accused Damascus of detaining thousands of people without the due process of the law. 

Some of the unlawfully held people in Syrian prisons have even been summarily executed, according to these sources. 

Radical militias have also been charged with conducting summary executions of their captured prisoners. 

Both sides in the civil war in Syria must come to terms with international law on domestic armed conflicts and abide by its provisions specially tailored for conflicts as the one taking place in Syria, now entering its fourth year. 

Violators of the relevant international standards should be held accountable for their war crimes or crimes against humanity sooner or later.