Thamer Mohammad al-Shehada, a media worker from al-Sha’fa town in eastern rural Deir Ez-Zour governorate, was arrested on January 28, 2025, by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) personnel who raided his house in al-Sha’fa town. He was then taken to an undisclosed location. SDF also confiscated his media equipment.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that Thamer’s phone was seized, and he has not been allowed to contact his family. We are concerned that he may be subjected to torture in detention and may go on to become another enforced disappearance case, with 85% of all those detained in Syria falling into this category.
We call for the provision of both material and moral reparations for the victims of such detentions and for 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 on the SDF to reveal the fate of thousands of people forcibly disappeared at its hands.
