A policeman who defected from Syrian regime forces, named as Mu’ath Ata al Smadi, from Smad town in the eastern suburbs of Daraa governorate, was arrested by Syrian regime forces in 2018, despite being among those who agreed to a settlement of their status. Since then, he has been classified as forcibly disappeared, with the Syrian regime denying any knowledge of his arrest and preventing anyone, even a lawyer, from visiting him. On November 21, 2020, Syrian regime forces informed his family of his death and handed over his body bearing signs of torture to them. Our data from numerous sources confirms that he was in good health at the time of his arrest.
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 at least 14,269 Syrian citizens have died due to torture in the regime detention centers.
