On November 29, 2020, Syrian Democratic Forces carried out raids on homes in al Hawayij village in the eastern suburbs of Deir Ez-Zour governorate. SNHR documented the arrest of five civilians in the raids, all of whom were taken to an undisclosed location.
We note that no members of the detainees’ families have been informed of the reason for their arrests or of their current whereabouts, with the phones of those detained civilians being confiscated, preventing them from contacting their families or lawyers. SNHR fears that they will be subjected to torture and ultimately classified as forcibly ‘disappeared’, like approximately 85 percent of all detained persons.
SNHR notes that about 3,337 Syrian citizens are still detained or forcibly disappeared in the SDF’s detention centers, constituting a grave threat to their wellbeing given the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
