Nawwar al-Refa’ie, aged 58, originally from Daraa governorate, was living in the Tishreen neighborhood of al-Hajr al-Aswad in southern Damascus governorate when he was arrested on November 8, 2022 by servicemen from the Syrian regime’s al-Firqa al-Rabea (4th Division) at a checkpoint at the entrance to the neighborhood while he was leaving after checking on his home. He was taken to an undisclosed location.
The arrest was made without any legal arrest legal warrant issued by a court, and the detainee’s family was not informed of his arrest, while his phone was seized and he was not allowed to contact his family or a lawyer.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights is concerned that he may be subjected to torture in detention and may go on to become yet another case of enforced disappearance, with 85% of all those detained falling into this category. We call for the provision of both material and moral reparations for the victims and their families, and call on all parties to put an end to all arbitrary detentions whose only purpose is to spread mass fear and extort people. We also call for revealing the fate of the thousands of persons forcibly disappeared by Syrian regime forces. We have serious concerns about their fate.
