The SNHR has briefed the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on the case of the citizen Ammar al Sourani, a housewares seller from al Qosour neighborhood in Homs city, who was aged 25 at the time of his arrest. SNHR urged the UN body to demand that the Syrian authorities release him immediately. Mr. Al Sourani was arrested arbitrarily on March 28, 2012, by the Syrian Regime’s Political Security forces in a raid on his place of residence in al Wa’er neighborhood in Homs city, and was taken to an undisclosed location. He was last seen in early October 2012 by a former detainee in Sydnaya Military Prison in Damascus Suburbs governorate. He has not been seen since that date at any security branch or prison. His fate remains unknown to the SNHR, as well as to his family.
The Syrian authorities have denied any connection with the disappearance of Ammar al Sourani. The SNHR has been unable to determine his fate, as have his family members, who fear that they may be arrested and tortured by regime personnel themselves if they continue to ask about his whereabouts and fate, as has happened in numerous previous cases.