On Wednesday, June 18, 2025, local residents found the body of Mahmoud Ghosa, an agricultural engineer born in 1968 and originally from the al-Muhajireen neighborhood in Homs, near the village of Brabo in the western countryside of Homs Governorate, an area under the control of the transitional government. Gunshot wounds and signs of torture were found on his body.
According to information obtained by the Syrian Network for Human Rights from reliable local sources, Mahmoud previously served as vice president of the Chamber of Agriculture in Homs Governorate and as head of a department in the city’s Agriculture Directorate. He was kidnapped the day before his body was found, while he was in a popular market in the al-Qusour neighborhood of Homs. Unknown gunmen intercepted his car and took him to an unknown location.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights continues to investigate the circumstances of the incident and gather more information. At the time of writing, the perpetrators’ identities remain unknown.
Legal Conclusions
- The discovery of the victim’s body bearing signs of gunshot wounds and torture, after two days of no contact with him, without any record of an armed clash, arrest warrant, or any judicial procedure, indicates the possibility of his being subjected to a summary execution and extrajudicial killing. This constitutes a flagrant violation of Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to life.
- The victim’s disappearance for one day without knowing his fate, then his being found murdered, constitutes a form of enforced disappearance, prohibited under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
- Since the area is under the control of the transitional government, the occurrence of this crime within its jurisdiction without preventive measures constitutes a failure to fulfill the state’s duty to protect the right to life and personal security. This violates the principle of the “duty to protect,” which obliges authorities to prevent violations in areas under their control.
Recommendations by SNHR
- Open an urgent, impartial, and transparent criminal investigation to identify those responsible for the killing of Mahmoud Ghasa, with the involvement of independent forensic experts, and make the results of the investigation public.
- The transitional government must assume its security responsibilities by activating monitoring and response mechanisms to protect civilians in rural areas and intensifying patrols in areas of active civilian activity.
- Provide urgent compensation to the families of the victims, including material and moral support, as well as psychological and social support for their families, as they are victims of extrajudicial killing.
- Establish a database of unidentified killings and enforced disappearances, to identify patterns and facilitate future legal accountability procedures, within the framework of legal justice.
