The SNHR has briefed the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on the case of Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Walid Dahhan, born in 1981, who was specializing in gynecology at the time of his arrest. Dr. Dahhan, who came from al Qadam neighborhood in Damascus city, was arrested on March 7, 2012, while he was near al Sehhi Restaurant in al Salehiya neighborhood in Damascus city by personnel from the Syrian Regime’s Palestine Branch, which is affiliated with the Military Intelligence Branch, and was taken to the Palestine Branch’s headquarters in Damascus city. His fate remains unknown to the SNHR as well as to his family.
The Syrian authorities have denied any connection with the disappearance of Dr. Ahmad Dahhan. 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.