Ismael Muhammad Taweel, born in 1975, from Izaz city in Aleppo governorate northern suburbs, was arrested by Syrian regime forces in 2013 in Aleppo city he has been forcibly disappeared ever since as the regime consistently denied detaining him and refused to allow anyone, even a lawyer, to visit him. On June 8, 2022, his family learned that he was registered as dead in the civil registry on July 5, 2013. We have information confirming he was in good health at the time of his arrest, which indicates that he probably died due to torture and lack of medical care.
SNHR can confirm that the Syrian regime failed to hand Ismael’s body over to his family; this is standard practice for the regime, with the bodies of the majority of detainees who die in its detention centers being disposed of through mass cremations. Since the whereabouts of these prisoners’ remains is unknown and they are not handed over to their relatives, these detainees continue to be classified as being among the forcibly disappeared.
We can confirm that 132,667 Syrian citizens are still detained or forcibly disappeared in Syrian regime forces detention centers. We fear for their fate in light of the spread of COVID-19.
SNHR notes that 14,449 Syrian citizens are documented as having died due to torture inside the Syrian regime’s detention centers.