22-year-old Mr Al Hamada, is a Syrian student normally attending business school. We fear that he might have been arrested as a hostage by the Syrian authorities as the latter search for relatives of Mr Al Hamada who are actively involved in the growing Syrian opposition movement. At the time of his arrest, he was speaking with them on Skype and told them that security forces had surrounded the house and climbed on the roof. The security agents then invaded the house and took him to an unknown location after forcing him to contact his brother and ask him to come home to surrender. Alkarama is concerned that Mr Al Hamada may be at risk of ill-treatment and even torture given his family ties to key human rights defenders in Syria.