A man from Salkhad city in the suburbs of Suwayda governorate, named as Yazan Emad Bali, was arrested by personnel from the Syrian regime’s Air Security force in the city on April 29, 2021, despite being among those who had previously agreed on a settlement. SNHR notes that regime forces also arrested his uncle Mu’ez al Safadi when he attempted to secure Yazan’s release following his arrest, with the two men being taken to an undisclosed location.
The arrests were conducted, as usual, with no legal arrest warrants being issued by a court, with no members of the detainees’ families being informed of their arrest or whereabouts, and with their phones being confiscated, preventing them from contacting their families or lawyers. SNHR fears that both men will be subjected to torture and ultimately classified as forcibly ‘disappeared’, like approximately 85 percent of all detained persons in Syria.
SNHR can confirm that at least 131,106 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.
