Regime-Linked Local Militias Carry Out Numerous Detentions
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Press release: (Download the full report below)
The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) revealed in its latest monthly report released today that no fewer than 196 cases of arbitrary arrests were documented in November 2024. The group also noted that regime-linked local militias carried out many detentions.
The 20-page report notes that, given the staggering rates of continuing arbitrary arrests, the number of Syrian citizens classified as forcibly disappeared persons has skyrocketed, so much so that Syria is now one of the worst countries worldwide in terms of the numbers of ‘disappeared’ citizens. The report adds that the Syrian regime surpasses many of the world’s other authoritarian regimes by virtue of having absolute hegemony over the legislative and judicial branches of government. The regime has wielded this hegemony to promulgate a multitude of laws and decrees that violate international human rights law, as well as the principles of law established in the current Constitution of 2012. A part of this process, the report stresses, is legitimizing the crime of torture. Syrian law contains several texts that outlaw torture, yet other legal texts, including Act No. 16 of 2022 explicitly contradict these articles, and legitimize impunity for torturers.
The report summarizes the monthly toll of arbitrary arrests/detentions, and the releases of detainees from various detention centers. The report does not, however, include abductions carried out by unidentified parties. Another exception made by SNHR is of individuals detained for committing criminal offenses, such as narcotics-related offenses and murder. In other words, the report focuses on cases of a political nature or those related to the armed conflict. The report also touches upon the laws and decrees promulgated by the parties to the conflict in relation to issues of arrest and enforced disappearance in the period covered. In much of its reportage, the report incorporates a descriptive and analytical methodology.
The report reveals that of the 196 arbitrary detentions documented this month, 173 were subsequently classified as enforced disappearances. Of the 196 arbitrary detentions, 84 were carried out by Syrian regime forces, with those arrested including four children; 36 were by all armed opposition factions/Syrian National Army (SNA), 39 by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), including of three children, and 37 were by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), including of two children.
The report also shows the distribution of November’s cases across all Syria’s governorates. Analysis of the data shows that Aleppo governorate saw the highest monthly number of arbitrary arrests/detentions, followed by Idlib, then Deir Ez-Zour, Rural Damascus and Damascus, Hama, Homs, and then Daraa.
The report additionally compares the number of arbitrary arrests/detentions with the numbers of releases of detainees. In this regard, the report stresses that the number of arbitrary arrests far surpasses the number of releases from detention centers, with the number of releases equaling approximately 30 percent of all the detentions documented on average; this confirms yet again that at least two or three times as many people are being detained as are released, primarily by the Syrian regime, which indicates that these arrest and detention practices are standard policy in comparison to the extremely limited numbers of people released by all parties to the conflict, but mainly from regime detention centers.
The report further notes more widespread arrests/detentions of civilians by regime personnel in the governorates of Rural Damascus, Damascus, and Daraa by regime forces on the pretext of military service evasion, with those detained accused of having failed to join the regime’s military or reserve forces as part of the regime’s mandatory military service policy. Most of these arrests were carried out during raids or at checkpoints, and even targeted individuals who had previously agreed to settle their security status. The report also records arrests/detentions carried out by regime forces and regime-linked/informal militias affiliated with the Syrian regime targeting citizens, including several workers on passenger transport buses, who suffered verbal and physical abuse during these arrests.
Moreover, there were arrests/detentions of a number of civilians, including children, while they were travelling towards the Syrian-Lebanese borders in an attempt to irregularly cross into Lebanon. These arrests were concentrated in Homs governorate. On a related note, the report stresses that, through the arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances carried out in November, the Syrian regime continues to violate the orders of the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued in November 2023 on requesting provisional measures in the case brought by Canada and the Netherlands against the Syrian regime on the application of the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Meanwhile, the report notes, SDF also continued enforcing the group’s policies of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance in November 2024. In pursuit of these policies, SDF personnel continued carrying out campaigns of mass raids and detentions, targeting civilians on the pretext of fighting ISIS, with some of these arrest campaigns backed by US-led Coalition helicopters. The report also documented arrests/detentions of civilians over accusations of working with the SNA. Moreover, we documented more arrests/detention of civilians for forced conscription, with these detainees taken to SDF military training and recruitment camps. The group also continued abducting children with the objective of conscripting them, with these children being sent to military training camps. The parents and families of these conscripted children are not allowed to contact them, with the SDF also refusing to disclose their fate.
As the report further reveals, HTS detained more civilians in November 2024. These arrests, which were concentrated in Idlib governorate and some areas of rural Aleppo governorate under the group’s control, targeted media activists, political activists, and local dignitaries. Most of these arrests were carried out in connection with the detainees expressing opinions critical of HTS’s management of areas under its control. These detentions are routinely and arbitrarily carried out in the form of raids in which HTS members storm their victims’ homes, often breaking down the doors, or abducting their victims in the street or while they’re passing through temporary checkpoints. We also documented arrests/detentions mostly carried out as part of raids and mass arrests, or at checkpoints in Idlib governorate that targeted individuals over their participation in the recent anti-HTS protests in the governorate. Most of these arrests were concentrated in Idlib governorate. We also documented arrests/detentions of a number of individuals over their alleged affiliation with the anti-HTS Tahrir Party. These arrests were concentrated in Idlib governorate.
Furthermore, the report goes on, armed opposition factions/SNA also continued carrying out arbitrary arrests/detentions and abductions in November 2024, including of women. Most of these detentions were conducted on a mass scale, targeting individuals traveling from areas controlled by the Syrian regime or SDF. In addition, the report documented detentions that exhibited an ethnic character, with these incidents concentrated in areas under the control of the armed opposition factions/SNA in Aleppo governorate. Most of these arrests occurred without judicial authorization and without the participation of the police force, which is the sole legitimate administrative body tasked with the authority to carry out arrests and detentions through the judiciary. The report also documented arrests by SNA personnel targeting civilians who were accused of working with the SDF, with these arrests being concentrated in some of the villages which are administratively part of Afrin city in Aleppo governorate. We also recorded arrests/detentions by SNA personnel of internally displaced persons (IDPs) returning to their homes in SNA-held areas, with these arrests being concentrated in Afrin city.
Releases
The report documents the regime’s release of 13 individuals, including four children. Only one of these detainees was released in connection with Amnesty Decree No. 7 of 2022. In Damascus governorate, the report documented the regime’s release of four detainees from regime detention centers. The detainees in question were released after serving the full term of their arbitrary sentence, having been imprisoned for about three years in regime detention centers. As such, their release was not connected to any past amnesty decrees. Furthermore, the report documented the separate releases of eight individuals, including four children, all of whom had been held for a few days without trial. Most of these detainees came from the governorates of Damascus and Daraa, with the majority having spent the duration of their detention in regime security branches.
As the report further reveals, eight individuals were released from SDF detention centers, where they had been imprisoned for periods ranging from a few days to five years, with the majority of these released originally hailing from the governorates of Deir Ez-Zour or Aleppo.
The report also documents HTS’ release of 11 individuals, including two children, from its detention centers in Idlib governorate, with the released detainees having been detained for periods ranging from a few days to three months, without any clear charges being brought against them.
Elsewhere, all armed opposition factions/SNA released four individuals, after detaining them for a few days without bringing any clear charges against them or putting them on trial. Most were released only after their families had been extorted into paying sums of money to secure their release.
As the report further notes, SNHR’s data is now viewed as a reputable principal source of information by many UN bodies, being used in numerous statements and resolutions, including the draft resolution on the human rights situation in Syria (A/C.3/78/L.43), passed by a vote on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, condemning the Syrian regime’s continued serious violations of international law. This resolution also acknowledged that the documented number of detainees in Syria exceeds 135,000. Relatedly, the resolution holds the regime responsible for the systematic use of enforced disappearance, which, it notes, constitutes a crime against humanity.
The report notes that the issue of detainees and forcibly disappeared persons has seen no progress in resolving despite its inclusion in several UN Security Council resolutions, as well as in UN General Assembly resolutions, such as Kofi Annan’s plan, in Security Council resolution 2254 of December 2015, and finally in the statement on cessation of hostilities issued in February 2016.
The report stresses that the Syrian regime has not fulfilled any of its obligations in any of the international treaties and conventions it has ratified, most particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It has also violated several articles of the Syrian Constitution itself, with thousands of detainees being imprisoned for long periods, often for many years, without any arrest warrants being presented or any charges being brought against them, and being prevented from appointing a lawyer and from receiving family visits. Approximately 68 percent of all detentions have subsequently been categorized as enforced disappearance cases as the families of these detainees have been refused any information about their loved ones’ detention location.
The report further notes the Syrian regime has not ended arbitrary detention and torture practices and has failed to take any steps to comply with the ICJ Order for provisional measures since its issuance on November 16, 2023. Even worse, the regime continues to imprison at least 136,614 arbitrarily arrested detainees/forcibly disappeared persons in its detention centers, a fact which further confirms that the Syrian regime continues to explicitly contravene the UN Convention against Torture, which the regime ratified in 2004.
The report additionally notes that the other parties (SDF, HTS, and all armed opposition factions/SNA) are also all obliged to implement the provisions of international human rights law, and that they too have committed widespread violations through arrests and enforced disappearances.
In the report, SNHR again calls on the UN Security Council to follow through with the implementation of its previous resolutions (2042, 2043, 2139)
The report stresses that the UN must form an impartial special committee to monitor cases of arbitrary arrest and reveal the fate of the 112,000 people classified as missing persons in Syria, 85 percent of whom are detained by the Syrian regime. The report adds that international pressure should be applied on all parties to immediately reveal their detention records in accordance with a set timetable, and to compel them to immediately make detainees’ whereabouts public and allow humanitarian organizations and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to have direct access to them.
Lastly, the report emphasizes that children, women, and invalids must immediately be released from captivity, and that detainees must not be used as prisoners of war.