Mr Kamel Hamda, aged 45, and father of six children, was seriously wounded on 10 November 2011, as a result of gunshots that he received before he was arrested in a Damascus suburb on his way home from work during lunch time. He came under machine gun fire in the Sayl alley, Harasta near the Sheikh Mousa mosque. He was wounded in one leg, and lay unconscious in the middle of the street for 15 minutes. Members of the Syrian state security forces dragged him to a waiting nearby van, after which he disappeared.

Mr Omar Raad, a Syrian doctor, was arrested near his home in Al Zabadani, a city close to the Lebanese border in Syria, on 14 September 2011. That day, members of the State Security had put up a checkpoint on his street and arrested him when he passed the barrier. The security agents were clearly identified by people who witnessed the arrest but the State Security refused to officially recognize Mr Raad's detention.

On 23 August 2011, following its 17th session, the UN Human Rights Council established an international Commission of Inquiry on Syria to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law committed since March 2011. The Commission's report is due to be released by the end of November. Civil society organisations jointly called on the Human Rights Council to hold a special session on Syria after the release of the report and, if it concludes that the allegations constitute crimes against humanity, to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, meeting for its 61st session, has concluded that the detention of two Syrian activists, Tal Al-Mallouhi and Tuhama Ma'ruf, is arbitrary in nature. It reaffirms, in light of current human rights violations, the principle of individual criminal responsibility in the widespread practice of arbitrary detention, which is considered a crime against humanity.