Khaled al-Rajab, a special needs person from al Rastan city in the northern suburbs of Homs governorate, who worked for the city’s local council, was arrested by Syrian regime forces in 2018, despite being amongst those who had previously agreed on a settlement of their status with the Syrian regime. 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 November 13, 2020, Syrian regime forces notified his family of his death and handed over his body to them. 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 and lack of healthcare.
SNHR can confirm that at least 130,689 Syrian citizens are still detained or forcibly disappeared in the regime’s detention centers, constituting a grave threat to the detainees’ wellbeing, given the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
SNHR also confirms that approximately 14,269 Syrian citizens died due to torture in the regime detention centers.
