On Wednesday, May 21, 2025, local residents found the body of 27-year-old Ali Muhammad Hamada, from the village of Yahmour in Tartous, near the international highway between Tartous and Homs, adjacent to the village of Yahmour, an area under the control of the transitional government. Gunshot wounds were found on his body.
According to information obtained by SNHR from reliable local sources, Ali was kidnapped on Saturday, May 10, 2025, while he was at his home in the village of Yahmour. He was kidnapped by an armed group of two men, who claimed to be affiliated with the “General Security.” They took him on a motorcycle outside the village, before his body was found nearly twenty days later.
SNHR continues to investigate the circumstances of the incident and gather more information. At the time of writing, the perpetrators’ identities remain unknown.
Legal Conclusions
- The discovery of the victim’s body bearing traces of gunshot wounds, after contact with him had been lost, without any record of an armed clash, arrest warrant, or any judicial procedure, indicates the possibility that he was subjected to a field execution and extrajudicial killing, which constitutes a flagrant violation of Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to life.
- The disappearance of the victim for twenty days without knowing his fate, and then finding him murdered, represents a form of enforced disappearance, which is prohibited under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and places legal responsibility on the party controlling the land.
- Since the area is under the control of the transitional government, the occurrence of this crime within its scope without preventive measures constitutes a failure to implement the state’s duty to protect the right to life and personal security, which violates the principle of the “duty to protect,” which obliges authorities to prevent violations in areas under their control.
Recommendations by SNHR
- Open an urgent, impartial, and transparent criminal investigation to identify those responsible for Ali Hamada’s killing, with the involvement of 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 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.
