Mohammad Raed al-Halqi, a 14-year-old boy with special needs, from Jasim city in the northern suburbs of Daraa governorate, was arrested on March 9, 2023, by Syrian regime forces in Qedsayya city in Damascus suburbs governorate, and taken to a regime juvenile detention center in Qedsayya city.
The arrest was made without any court-issued legal warrant being presented. and the child’s family was not informed of his arrest, while his phone was seized and he has not been 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 percent of all those detained falling into this category.
We call for the provision of both material and moral reparations for the victims of such detentions 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.
