Disappearance of a school principal and a university student at the hands of military intelligence and state security
Geneva Human Rights Defenders submitted to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances two cases of enforced disappearance in Syria, concerning Mahmoud al-Bati and Muhammad al-Hamdawi, who were kidnapped by pro-government forces between 2013 and 2016. The disappearance of university student Muhammad al-Bati on 10/3/2016. State security forces kidnapped and arrested the university student while he was passing through a checkpoint near the city of Taybat al-Imam from the direction of Maardas. The victim intended to go to Hama Governorate to obtain his industrial high school certificate from the Hama Industrial School. After his family insisted that he not go, he did not listen to him and left the city towards the city of Hama on 10/3/2016. While the detainee was crossing the Maardas checkpoint located on the outskirts of the village, he was arrested at the checkpoint on an unknown charge. The family learned that he was transferred to the State Security Branch in Hama. Then, after a year and eight months, he was transferred to the State Security Branch in Damascus. Muhammad al-Hamdawi, the director of the preparatory school, is still detained and his fate is unknown. On 4/1/2013, security forces raided The military security forces raided their home in Al-Tadamon and arrested him along with two of his brothers, Abdullah and Qusay. Their family searched everywhere for them and managed to release Abdullah and Qusay, who were studying at the university, after paying millions of liras. The family learned that the victim was in the Palestine Branch until 6 months after his arrest, after which his fate remains unknown until now. Suleiman Issa, Executive Director of the Guardians of Human Rights, said that the checkpoints and raids allowed the Syrian authorities to implement a policy of enforced disappearance in a systematic and widespread manner that amounts to a crime against humanity. It is time for the Syrian authorities to stop this heinous practice. The two previous cases are just examples of victims of the systematic practice of enforced disappearance that has spread throughout the country and has affected all segments of Syrian society since the beginning of the conflict. For more information: call 00905385236193 or send an email to Hr.guardians@gmail.com