A fighter with a faction of the Armed Opposition in Daraa governorate, named as Ziad Mahmoud al Gharir, from al Ghariya al Sharqiya in the governorate’s eastern suburbs, was arrested by Syrian regime forces in July 2018 in Seyda town, also in the governorate. Since then, he has been classified as forcibly disappeared, with the Syrian regime denying his arrest and preventing anyone, even a lawyer, from visiting him. On November 30, 2020, SNHR received information confirming that he had died in 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 in Seydnaya Military Prison in Damascus suburbs governorate.
SNHR has received confirmation that Syrian regime forces didn’t hand over his body to his family; this is standard practice for the regime, with the bodies of the majority of detainees who die in its detention centers being 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 as being among the forcibly disappeared.
SNHR can confirm that at least 130,689 Syrian citizens are still detained or forcibly disappeared in the regime’s detention centers, constituting a grave threat to the detainees’ wellbeing, given the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
SNHR also confirms that approximately 14,269 Syrian citizens died due to torture in the regime detention centers.
