Alkarama has been working on Mr Shamoun's case since July 2011, when we informed the United Nations Special Procedures of his arbitrary detention. In follow-up to the initial communication, we were pleased to share with the UN bodies the information of his release today, while reiterating our previous concerns about the unlawfulness of his long detention.

We recall that Mr Shamoun was arrested, together with his brother Fawaz, on 2 July 1985 by agents of the Syrian Military Service. The two brothers were arrested because they had reached the age of 18 and did not report for their military service to the Syrian Army, as they lived with their family in Lebanon from 1972 to 1985.

The Syrian authorities never informed the family of their whereabouts and none of the two brothers was ever charged or tried. In 1996, Mr Fawaz Shamoun was released without having been presented to a judge. Mr Shamoun's family only ever received minimum information about Mr Yacoub, including that he was detained in Sednaya prison from 2001 to 2008 and in Al Rakka in 2011 (please refer to the initial press release for further information).

On 14 March 2012, more than 26 years after his arrest, Mr Shamoun was finally released from Al-Hasakah prison. During his detention, he was never charged nor presented to a judge, which makes this exceptionally long detention unlawful both in domestic and international law. Mr Shamoun's heavy and unlawful punishment, 26 years and five months of arbitrary detention, cannot be justified in any circumstances, especially for the crime of failing to report to military service.