A man, identified as 57-year-old Ahmad Barakat Daoud was arrested on April 17, 2024, by personnel from the Syrian National Army’s (SNA) al-Hamza Squad who raided his house in his home city of Afrin in northwestern Aleppo governorate over demanding back his house, which is located in the city’s al-Ashrafiya neighborhood, after it had been seized by al-Hamza Squad. He was then taken to an undisclosed location.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that Ahmad has not been allowed to contact his family. We are concerned that he may be subjected to torture in detention and may go on to become another enforced disappearance case, with 85% of all those detained in Syria 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 arbitrary detentions whose only purpose is to spread mass fear and extort people.
We also call on the SNA to reveal the fate of thousands of people forcibly disappeared at its hands.