A man named Nawwaf Awad al Shaman from al Hamra village in the eastern suburbs of Hama governorate was arrested by Syrian regime forces in Damascus city in 2019 following his return from areas controlled by factions of the armed opposition in north Syria. Since then, he has been classified as forcibly disappeared, with the Syrian regime denying his arrest and preventing anyone, even a lawyer, from visiting him. On June 17, 2020, SNHR received information confirming that he had died in regime custody. Our data from numerous sources confirms that he was in good health at the time of his arrest, indicating that he probably died due to torture. SNHR has received confirmation that Syrian regime forces didn’t hand over his body to his family; this is standard practice for the regime, with the bodies of the majority of detainees who die in its detention centers disposed of through mass cremations. Since the whereabouts of these prisoners’ remains is unknown and they are not handed over to their relatives, they continue to be classified among the forcibly disappeared persons.
