A 22-year-old engineering student, identified as Mohammad Ahmad Hejazi from Kanaker town in western Damascus suburbs governorate, was arrested on April 25, 2023, by members of the Syrian regime’s Military Security service at the al-Mwasat Hospital in Damascus city. He was taken to a regime detention center (al-Mudahama Division/Branch 215) in Damascus city.
The arrest was carried out without any court-issued legal warrant being presented. Mohammad’s family was not informed of his arrest, while his phone was seized and he has been forbidden from contacting his family or a lawyer.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) is concerned that he may be subjected to torture in detention and may go on to become yet another case of enforced disappearance, with 85 percent of all those detained falling into this category.
We call for the provision of both material and moral reparations for the victims of such detentions and for their families, and call on all parties to put an end to all such arbitrary detentions whose only purpose is to spread mass fear and extort people.
We also call on the Syrian regime to reveal the fate of the thousands of persons forcibly disappeared by regime forces. We have serious concerns about their fate.