On Friday, July 4, 2025, local residents found the bodies of Nabil Khadour and his wife, Lama Ali al-Sarm, both residents of the Adawiya neighborhood in Homs, in a building within the Hassan bin Haytham camp in Homs, after losing contact with them for two days. It should be noted that the area is under the control of the transitional government. Their bodies showed signs of gunshot wounds.
According to information obtained by the Syrian Network for Human Rights from reliable local sources, contact with Nabil and Lama has been lost since Wednesday, July 2, 2025, after they went to the Homs governorate building to file a complaint against members of the internal security forces affiliated with the Ministry of Interior of the transitional government, after the forces raided the family’s home in the Adawiya neighborhood and confiscated it for the benefit of another family. However, contact with them was lost that day, and their bodies were found two days later. Sources close to the family also reported that they had been detained by internal security forces.
SNHR continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident and gather further information about its circumstances. At the time of writing, the identity of the party responsible for the crime has not been confirmed.
Legal Conclusions
- The discovery of the bodies of Nabil Khadour and his wife, Lama al-Sarm, with gunshot wounds, after losing contact with them, without any record of an armed clash, arrest warrant, or any judicial proceedings, indicates that they may have been subjected to extrajudicial execution and killing outside the law. which is a flagrant violation of Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to life.
- The disappearance of the two victims for two days without any information about their fate, followed by their discovery dead, constitutes a pattern of enforced disappearance, which is 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, which violates the principle of “duty to protect” that obliges the authorities to prevent violations in areas under their control.
Recommendations of the Syrian Network for Human Rights:
- Open an urgent, impartial, and transparent criminal investigation to determine those responsible for the deaths of Nabil Khadour and his wife, Lama al-Sarm, with the involvement of independent criminal experts, and publish the results of the investigation to the public.
- The transitional government should assume its security responsibilities by activating monitoring and response mechanisms to protect civilians in civilian and public areas and intensifying patrols in areas of civilian activity.
- Provide urgent compensation to the victims’ families, including material and moral support, as well as psychological and social support for their families, as victims of extrajudicial killings.
- Establish a database of unknown killings and enforced disappearances to identify patterns and facilitate future legal accountability within the framework of legal justice.
