The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today responded to the Treasury Department’s partial lifting of sanctions on Syria by calling on the U.S. to “fully and immediately” lift all Assad-related sanctions so that the Syrian people can freely rebuild their nation.
This week, the U.S. Treasury issued a temporary license that authorizes some transactions with the Syrian government related to humanitarian goods but kept all other sanctions in place.
SEE: US eases restrictions on Syria while keeping sanctions in place – Associated press
In a statement, CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert S. McCaw said:
“Although we welcome the Treasury Department’s decision to pause select sanctions on Syria to ease access to humanitarian aid, this step is not enough. Now that the people of Syria have defeated the Assad regime, it makes no sense for the U.S. to maintain sanctions on Syria that were meant to punish the Assad regime. The liberated people of Syria must be able to rebuild their nation, free from U.S. sanctions against a brutal regime that no longer exists.”
He noted that sanctions targeting former Assad regime personalities, such as officials and business people who had a leading role in supporting the regime’s crimes, should remain in place.
In December, Washington, D.C. based CAIR congratulated the Syrian-American community, the liberated people of Syria, the Muslim world, and everyone who supports justice for all on the fall of the brutal Assad dictatorship.
Since then, CAIR has also condemned Israel’s invasion, ethnic cleansing and bombing of Syrian territory.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert S. McCaw, 202-716-6242, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com