Yasin Ghazi Abo Rukba, age 34, a former soldier who had defected from the Syrian regime army, from Nawa city in Daraa governorate western suburbs, was arrested by Syrian regime forces in 2018 after he surrendered himself in order to agree to a security settlement. Thereafter, the regime consistently denied detaining him and refused to allow anyone, even a lawyer, to visit him. On April 19, 2022, Syrian regime military personnel released his body to his family, informing them that he had died inside the infamous Saydnaya military prison in Damascus suburbs; the body bore clear marks of torture and a visible lack of healthcare.
We can confirm that 132,667 Syrian citizens are still detained or forcibly disappeared in Syrian regime forces detention centers. We fear for their fate in light of the spread of COVID-19.
SNHR notes that 14,449 Syrian citizens are documented as having died due to torture inside the Syrian regime’s detention centers.
