A man, identified as Mohammad Qteish born in 1971 who lives in Jdaidat al Fadel in western Rural Damascus governorate, was arrested on November 14, 2023, by soldiers from the Syrian regime’s Fourth Division at a checkpoint at the entrance to al-Hajar al-Aswad in southern Rural Damascus governorate, while he was on his way to check on his old home in the area. He was then taken to an undisclosed location.
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 not been allowed to contact his family or a lawyer since then.
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 enforced disappearance case, with 85 percent of all those detained falling into this category.
We call for the provision of both material and moral reparations for Mohammad and all other victims of such detentions and for their families, and call on all parties to put an end to all arbitrary detentions whose only purpose is to spread mass fear and extort people.
We also call on the regime to reveal the fate of thousands of people forcibly disappeared in its detention centers. We are seriously concerned about their fates.
