Hasan Ibrahim al Dgheim, born 1965, an employee at the Military Housing Institution, from Jerjanaz town in the eastern suburbs of Idlib governorate was arrested by Syrian regime forces on October 26, 2014 in Idlib city. Since then, he has been considered forcibly disappeared, with the Syrian regime not allowing anyone to visit him, even a lawyer. On February 2, 2022, his family was notified that he had been registered as dead on May 5, 2015 in the civil registry. SNHR believe it’s probably that he died due to torture inside a Syrian regime forces’ detention center.
We note that Syrian regime forces failed to deliver his body to his family, which is a common practice for most of the detainees who die in detention centers, with their bodies being disposed of by cremation or secret unmarked mass graves. Given this situation, we classify all victims known to have died in custody whose bodies have not been returned to their families as being among the forcibly disappeared.
SNHR stresses that Syria is not safe for the return of refugees and that arrests, forced disappearances, and torture practiced mainly by the Syrian regime are continuing.
SNHR confirms that at least 131,469 Syrian citizens are still detained or forcibly disappeared inside Syrian regime detention centers. We fear for their fate, more especially in light of the spread of COVID-19.
SNHR notes that over 14,369 Syrian citizens have been documented as dying due to torture inside Syrian regime detention centers since 2011.
