A civilian, born in 1980, from Maghla Kabira village of Ma’dan city in southeastern Raqqa governorate, Muhammad al Khalil, was arrested by Syrian regime forces’ personnel on July 20, 2022, as he was passing a checkpoint near Ghanem al Ali village in the eastern suburbs of Raqqa, and took him to an undisclosed location.
The arrest wasn’t carried out according to a court’s warrant, and his family wasn’t informed of his arrest and his phone was confiscated, and he was prevented from contacting his family, we fear he might suffer torture and become forcibly disappeared, as has happened with 85% of detainees.
SNHR calls for financial and psychological restitution for all victims and their families, as well as for an end to all arbitrary detention and for the fate of thousands of individuals forcibly disappeared by Syrian regime forces to be revealed. We note that these arrests are carried out with the objective of spreading fear and terror in the community and blackmailing the detainees’ families. We have additional, well-founded fears for the detainees’ wellbeing due to the spread of COVID-19.
