Ainvisibility three Three men from the same village after they were kidnapped by the shabbiha of the Popular Committees and the Syrian Air Force Intelligence
On June 4 ,Hama Human Rights Organization wrote to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID)
regarding the disappearance of three Syrian citizens from the Tremseh area in Hama governorate, west-central Syria, between 2012 and 2014. Their families are still unaware of their fate and whereabouts. The three victims were arrested during raids, a wave of arrests and checkpoints carried out by regime-affiliated popular committees and air force security forces, and were then taken to unknown places of detention. Their families did not take any action following their disappearance, fearing reprisals against them or the complainants themselves, as is customary in many cases. Jalal al-Sutl, a 30-year-old university student, disappeared when he was kidnapped by the popular committees affiliated with the Salama family on 4-7-2013:4-7-2013 while he was traveling from his home to the transportation garage where he was waiting for the bus heading to Deir Ezzor city where his university is located. While he was sitting in the garden opposite the garage, the Shabiha forces came and abducted him and took him to an unknown destination. Shortly after, the Shabiha contacted his family to negotiate the release of the victim for a sum of money and the victim’s family agreed to the amount, but the communications were suddenly cut off and the family was unable to reach any information about them and his fate is still unknown. On 1-4-2014, the Popular Committees arrested the 40-year-old farmer Jihad Al-Boulad, born on 1-1-1960 in Al-Tarimseh area – Hama, while the victim was traveling with his son to the village of Al-Safsafiya, and before they reached the village, they were intercepted by a pilot checkpoint of the Shabbiha Popular Committees returning and belonging to the village of Al-Safsafiya, they arrested the victim with his son and took him to an unknown destination. On 2/17/2012, the Air Force Intelligence raided the home of the victim, farmer Khaled Al-Khaled, born in Al-Tarimseh, Hama, 14-5-1973, while he was at his home in the southern neighborhood of Al-Tarimseh in front of his wife and children, the victim was arrested, tied, beaten and left handcuffed in front of the entire neighborhood for several hours until a military jeep arrived and took him to an unknown destination. His family searched the security branches in Damascus through intermediaries a year and a half after his arrest and learned that he was in Saydnaya prison and that he was not allowed to visit. The family was unable to verify the authenticity of this information. In light of these cases, which constitute only a fraction of the thousands of cases of systematic enforced disappearances in Syria, HRH sent a letter to the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances expressing its concern about the fate of these detainees and the grave violations of their fundamental rights. It also requested the UN Working Group’s intervention with the Syrian authorities to ensure that the relatives of the three victims are informed of their fate and whereabouts, and to demand their immediate release and placement under the protection of the law. For more information, contact the media team at 00905050468995 or via email: Hr.guardians@gmail.com