Syria: A Peaceful Activist Tortured While Detained Incommunicado by the Military Intelligence
On 10 June 2012, Ayed Al Ghashim, a peaceful activist during the Syrian uprisings, was arrested while crossing a checkpoint near Qamishli. He was only released a year later after being severely tortured while secretly detained. Concerned over this fact, on 9 August 2016, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians submitted his case to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT), Juan EMéndez E. Méndez.
Syria: Man Disappeared Since His Abduction From The Street in 2013
51-year-old Zakaria Jabara was abducted in Qamishli on 2 February 2013 by the Military Security. Jabara was then taken to an unknown location and has not been seen since his arrest. On 10 August 2016, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians sent his case to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), in the hope that it will help shed light on his fate and whereabouts.
Syria: 20-Year-Old Student Released by YPG After Being Disappeared For More Than a Year
On 5 July 2016, Ammar Al Hasan was released from Al Malikiyah detention centre – one of the central Kurdish prisons in north-eastern Syria – from where he disappeared in March 2015. During his secret detention, he was tortured in order to force him to confess to being a member of a terrorist group.
Syria: Death Under Torture of an Activist While Detained by the Military Intelligence
On 11 May 2011, Ahmad Hassoun, a 19-year-old Syrian activist, was arrested by military officers at a checkpoint situated near the police station in his hometown of Bidama, northern Syria. One year after his arrest, his father collected his corpse bearing severe marks of torture at the Tishreen military hospital in Damascus. Concerned over Ahmad's death in detention, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians sent his case to the Special Rapporteur on summary executions (SR SUMEX), Agnes Callamard.
Syria: A Man Detained in Sednaya Prison Disappeared Since April 2016
On 26 July 2016, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) regarding the case of a Syrian citizen from the village of Al-Hashimiyah in the Hama Governorate who disappeared in Homs on 20 June 2015, after an arrest conducted by the Air Force Intelligence at a checkpoint. His family visited him once in Sednaya prison in late April 2016 but remains since without any information about his fate, fearing for his life as he suffers from a heart condition.
On 20 June 2015, Souhail Al Ashkar, a 44 year-old construction worker, was arrested, without a warrant,
Syria: Two Brothers Missing Since Their 2013 Abduction by Military Security
Between February and March 2013, two brothers of the Al Arnaout family were arrested in Homs by the Military Security. More than three years later, their whereabouts remain unknown. Concerned over their fate, Alkarama submitted in June 2016 their case to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID), hoping its intervention will help shed light on their fate.
Syria: Further Cases of Enforced Disappearances following Arrests at Checkpoints
In recent years, checkpoints have become a tool for the Syrian authorities to create a climate of fear in the country. Individuals passing checkpoints are systematically thoroughly scrutinised by the security services and are, if perceived as supporting the opposition, arrested and brought to unknown places of detention, their families being denied any information on their fate and whereabouts.
Syria: Secret Detention of University Student Walid Issa by 'Islamic State' since March 2015
On 25 March 2015, Walid Issa, a 27-year-old student from Al-Yaarubiyah in the al-Hasakah Governorate, was travelling home from Turkey when, passing in the city of Al Raqqah, he was stopped at Point 11, an area hosting the headquarters of the 'Islamic State' (IS) security offices near the soccer stadium known as "the black stadium." The officers, wearing black uniforms and identifying themselves as IS members, immediately arrested him.
Syria: Three Men Still Disappeared Following Abduction by the Military Intelligence
In May 2016, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians sent to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) three cases of enforced disappearance of Syrian citizens who had been arrested by the Military Intelligence – or "Military Security", affiliated to the Ministry of Defence – in different towns in Syria. Alkarama hopes that the WGEID's intervention with the Syrian authorities will help disclosing their whereabouts.
Syria: peaceful activist Ammar Tellawi disappeared from Adra Prison since July 2014
United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), in the hope that it will help shed light on his whereabouts.
Ammar Tellawi, a 36-year-old peaceful activist and PhD student at Damascus University disappeared in July 2014 from Adra prison where he was detained. After family visits were denied, Ammar was transferred to another unknown location, and the prison administration refused to give his relatives any information on his fate and whereabouts. Therefore, on 22 April 2016 Alkarama seized the