30 November 2015

Syria: Alkarama Calls the United Nations Special Procedures to Request a Visit to the Country

Inmates in Aleppo main prison Inmates in Aleppo main prison Reuters

On 25 November 2015, Alkarama wrote to several United Nations Special Procedures to encourage them to request a visit to Syria in order to raise the issues of enforced disappearance, torture and arbitrary detention. In particular, Alkarama wrote to the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID), the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) and the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) − all Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council − to engage directly with the competent authorities in Syria with a view to visiting to detention centres in the country.

Mass arrests by the army and security branches

Human rights defenders, peaceful humanitarian workers, political activists and ordinary citizens continue to be the target of enforced disappearances, torture and arbitrary detentions. Mass arrests campaigns are routinely carried out by the army and various Syrian security branches, often leading to enforced disappearances, arrests taking place without any judicial warrant and without informing families of the arrested about their whereabouts.

Following their arrest, individuals are systematically taken to prisons or secret detention centres, where they are subjected to torture, often with the aim to extract confessions that are later used to convict them before special courts without any material evidence. The frequency, duration and gravity of acts of torture – practiced without exception by all branches of the security services – are often the cause of numerous deaths in custody.

Systematic violations of the right to a fair trial

Furthermore, the administration of justice fails to abide by the most fundamental fair trial guarantees. The Anti-Terrorism Law is commonly used against human rights defenders and peaceful protestors to bring them before the Anti-Terrorism Court, sentencing them to lengthy prison terms in expedited trials that fail to meet due process standards. Civilians are even brought before Military Field Courts − exceptional courts with secret proceedings often lasting only a few minutes − where defendants have no right to legal representation and must abide by the Courts' binding decisions which cannot be appealed.

An emblematic case demonstrating this pattern is the case of Bassel Khartabil, a web engineer credited for opening up the internet in Syria who was awarded the Censorship Digital Freedom Award in 2013 and ranked among the Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2012 by Foreign Policy. On 15 March 2012, he was arrested by members of the Military Security Branch 215, secretly detained for nine months during which he was subjected to severe torture. Following a hearing that lasted only a few minutes, he was charged by the military Prosecutor with "spying for an enemy State" without any evidence. In April 2015, the UN WGAD adopted an Opinion on his case recognising the arbitrary nature of his detention and calling for his immediate release. Nevertheless, Bassel remained detained in Adra prison until 3 October 2015, when he disappeared following his transfer to an unknown location. His wife has received unconfirmed reports that a Military Field Court has sentenced him to death and already executed him.

Alkarama's comment

"In the current situation in which the widespread and systematic practice of torture and enforced disappearances continue to be committed in total impunity by governmental forces and its affiliated militias, a country visit by the UN Special Procedures would serve to remind the Syrian authorities of their legal obligations," explains Rachid Mesli, Legal Director at Alkarama. "In May 2015, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (SR IDPs) conducted an official visit to Syria, which gives us hope that the authorities may accept other visits."

For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Dir: +41 22 734 1008)

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