On May 9, 2023, a group of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) members carried out a raid and arrest campaign in Deir Hassan village in the northern suburbs of Idlib governorate. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) documented the arrest of four civilians, including one child, from the same family, over accusations of being affilIated with the Tahrir Party, and participating in anti-HTS demonstrations. They were taken to an undisclosed location.
SNHR notes that the detainees’ phones were seized following their arrest, and they have not been allowed to contact their families. SNHR is concerned that they may be subjected to torture in detention and may go on to become yet more forced disappearance cases, with 85% of all those detained in Syria falling into this category.
We call for the provision of reparations for the victims and their families, both materially and morally, 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 thousands of forcibly disappeared persons by the HTS.
