On 11 May 2011 in the afternoon, Ahmad was stopped by officers of the Syrian army at a checkpoint in Bidama, who inspected his mobile phone and, finding pictures of peaceful protests, proceeded to his arrest. Ahmad was then brought to Branch 271 of the Military Intelligence Directorate in Idlib where he was subjected to such severe torture that it left him with his back bones broken, according to a former co-detainee. After an unknown period of time, Ahmad was transferred to branch 291 of the Military Intelligence in Damascus.

A year later, on 15 May 2012, Ahmad's father was called to collect his son's remains at the Tishreen military hospital in Damascus. Due to the severe marks of torture on Ahmad's body, his father had great difficulty identifying him as his son. Nevertheless, he was obliged to sign a document referring that his son had died "because of a heart attack", as it usually occurs in similar cases, but could not collect his death certificate.

"Ahmad's case illustrates the denial of justice faced by families of thousands of individuals who died in detention due to torture or appalling conditions of detention," comments Inès Osman, Legal Coordinator at Alkarama. "Yet, the authorities systematically refuse to shed light on the circumstances of these deaths, despite their obligation to carry out independent, thorough and impartial investigation into each allegations of violation of the right to life and the absolute prohibition of torture, that are both non-derogable and therefore must be respected at all times, including in times of armed conflict."

Therefore, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians wrote to the Special Rapporteur on summary executions (SR SUMEX) demanding her to call upon the Syrian authorities to open an investigation into Ahmad's death and bring the perpetrators to justice.

For more information or an interview, please contact media@alkarama.org (Tel: +41 22 734 1008).