On Friday, August 29, 2025, the family of Muhammad Mahmoud Ismail found his body in Al-Walid Hospital in Homs, bearing traces of a gunshot wound to the head. He was from the Al-Nuzha neighborhood in Homs. The area is under the control of the transitional government.
According to information obtained by the Syrian Network for Human Rights from local sources, Muhammad worked as a Kia Rio taxi driver. Contact with him was lost on the evening of Thursday, August 28, 2025, and he was later found in Al-Walid Hospital. It is unclear how he arrived there, and it is unknown whether he was killed directly or kidnapped. At the time of writing, the identity of the perpetrators remains unknown.
We are continuing our investigations, including reviewing and gathering more evidence and information. Therefore, we hope that anyone with information or details related to this incident will provide them to us via our official email address: [email protected]
Legal Conclusions:
- The discovery of the victim’s body bearing gunshot wounds, after no contact had been made with him for a day, without any record of an armed clash, arrest warrant, or any judicial procedure, indicates the possibility of 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 a day without knowing his fate, then being found dead, constitutes a form of enforced disappearance, prohibited under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
- Given that 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 implement 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.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights’ recommendations:
- Open an urgent, impartial, and transparent criminal investigation to identify those responsible for the killing of Muhammad Ismail, including independent forensic experts, and make the investigation’s findings 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 with active civilian activity.
- Providing 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.
- Establishing a database of unidentified killings and enforced disappearances to identify patterns and facilitate future legal accountability procedures within the framework of legal justice.
