On Saturday, May 17, 2025, five-year-old Mohammed Dawoud al-Bast, a resident of al-Sawaiq neighborhood in Hama, died of wounds he sustained on May 7, 2025, when he suffered a gunshot wound while playing with other children in the neighborhood.
According to preliminary information we obtained from reliable local sources, the child, Mohammed, was shot by a random bullet from an unknown source while he was on a public street in the neighborhood. He was subsequently transferred to a hospital in Hama, where he died during treatment. SNHR note that the area where the incident occurred is under the control of the transitional government.
Legal Conclusions
- This incident reflects a serious shortcoming in the regulation of arms possession and storage in civilian areas, which contradicts the state’s obligation to take preventive measures against the possession of arms within homes and civilian residential areas, as well as international principles relating to community security.
- The uncontrolled presence of firearms in civilian residential areas reflects a disturbing spread of a gun culture within residential environments, threatening public safety and highlighting the absence of serious policies to control firearms and restrict them to official institutions.
- Although the death was caused by a stray bullet, the transitional government bears part of the responsibility for regulating the proliferation of weapons, educating the population about their dangers, and controlling the environment for their civilian use.
Recommendations by SNHR
- Enact and implement strict legislation regulating the possession of weapons, prohibiting their presence inside homes and residential areas without clear licenses and conditions, including safe storage, and criminalizing negligence in handling them.
- Implementing extensive community awareness campaigns, in cooperation with civil society organizations, to educate families about the dangers of weapons inside homes and residential areas, and the need to report unsafe possession.
- Strengthening control over the circulation of individual weapons, by establishing periodic inspection mechanisms and creating a national register of weapon holders in areas controlled by the transitional government.
- Launching community-based child protection programs that combine awareness-raising in schools and community centers and involve parents in promoting a safe environment for children at home.
- Authorities bear legal responsibility for any negligence resulting in civilian death or injury and must take clear criminal action against anyone who violates gun laws or causes misuse within residential areas.
