Pro-Bashar al-Assad’s militants, who were involved in war crimes against the Syrian people, have found a safe haven in Denmark, escaping punishment and prosecution for the heinous crimes they have committed in the war-torn country.
According to activists, the Danish authorities have suspended the investigation against a potential war criminal, Samir Maqssoud, a Palestinian-Syrian citizen from coastal Latakia city, who arrived in Denmark in 2014 as a refugee.
Relied on well-informed sources, Zaman Al-Wasl seeks to track pro-Assad militants who applied for asylum in Europe.
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Samir Maqsoud, along with his brother, Ahmed Maqsoud, are suspected of killing, raping and looting in both Latakia and Damascus. He currently lives in Skibelundvej 9.
A source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that Samir Maqssoud, born in the Southern Raml neighborhood, Latakia, has been one of the regime’s Shabiha since the start of the revolution. The source witnessed Maqsoud commit war crimes including murder, arson, and torture.
The source said that he has a picture of Maqsoud’s older brother carrying a weapon and stepping on a burned body. Ahmed Maqssoud was killed on February 25, 2019, while Maqssoud’s other brother, Bassam, is working with Liwa al-Quds (The Jerusalem Brigade).
Liwa al-Quds, a Palestinian militia operating as part of pro-regime forces, was formed in 2013 in coordination with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and includes in its ranks about 5,000 fighters, most of whom are Palestinians from Neirab refugee camp and some Christian groups. By the beginning 2015, the group had suffered 200 killed and over 400 wounded.
An eyewitness said that he saw Maqsoud opening fire on a peaceful demonstration in Latakia in 2011. As well as receiving orders from regime military security, he sometimes fought alongside other Palestinian factions. Later, he moved to Damascus to join the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA).
On May 15, 2014, Maqsoud moved to Hassi Messaoud town, in Algeria and from there to the Esbjerg region in Denmark, where he applied for asylum and obtained residence on January 30, 2015.
Maqssoud is currently working in construction and decoration, which was his profession before joining Shabiha.
The source met Maqssoud, who worked with one of his relatives, by chance and recognized his face from the demonstrations. After obtaining his full name, an acquaintance in Raml neighborhood confirmed that he was indeed the Shabiha member he often saw in Latakia.
The source contacted the Danish authorities about Maqsoud, offering pictures of him and his brother with weapons. However, the authorities did not seem interested to follow up on the information under the pretext that Maqssoud, too, was fleeing the war, and that the crimes he is accused of were committed in Syria and under the responsibility of Syrian authorities.
Recently, the Danish government announced a plan to review residence permits and fast-track deportations of Syrian refugees, claiming that the conditions in Damascus no longer warrant their protection status and that Syrians from the capital could safely return to it.
Zaman A Wasl
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