On February 1, 2023, members of the Syrian regime’s Internal security directorate arrested five civilians in raids on their homes in Ataman town in the northern suburbs of Daraa governorate, taking them to an undisclosed location.
The arrests were made without any court-issued legal warrant, and the detainees’ families were not informed of the reason for their arrest, while their phones were seized and they were not allowed to contact their families or lawyers.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights is concerned that the detainees may be subjected to torture in detention and may go on to become yet more victims 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.
