Hussam Ismail, known as Musa al Deiri, was the imam of a mosque in the village of Deir al Freies in the southern suburbs of Hama governorate, and a resident of the village. Hussam, who had graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Islamic Sharia, was arrested in 2018 by Syrian regime forces although he was amongst those who had previously agreed on a settlement of his status. Since his arrest, he had been classified as forcibly disappeared, with the Syrian regime denying any knowledge of his arrest and preventing anyone, even a lawyer, from visiting him. On June 11, 2020, SNHR received information confirming that he had died in regime custody. Our data from numerous sources confirms that he was in good health at the time of his arrest, indicating that he probably died due to torture.
SNHR has received confirmation that Syrian regime forces failed to hand over his body to his family; this is standard practice for the regime regarding the majority of detainees who die in its detention centers, whose bodies are disposed of through mass cremations. Since the whereabouts of these prisoners’ remains is unknown and they are not handed over to their relatives, they continue to be classified among the forcibly disappeared persons.
