A man from al Harra city in the northwestern suburbs of Daraa governorate, named as Belal Saeed al Zurqan, was arrested by Syrian regime forces in the city on January 4, 2019, and taken to a detention center in Damascus city despite having agreed to a settlement of his status. 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 December 26, 2020, Syrian regime forces informed his family of his death and handed his body over to them in Tishreen Military Hospital in Damascus city bearing signs of torture sustained in Seydnaya Military Prison.
SNHR can confirm that at least 130,758 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 notes that at least 14,269 Syrian citizens have died due to torture in Syrian regime forces’ detention center.
