SNHR has briefed the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on the case of the citizen, Samer Abdul Latif, from Tadmur city in the east of Homs governorate, who was aged 28 at the time of his arrest. SNHR urged the UN body to demand that the Syrian authorities release him immediately. Mr. Abdul Latif was arrested arbitrarily on May 5, 2012 in a raid on his place of residence in al Sharqi neighborhood in Tadmur city by gunmen from the Syrian Regime’s Military Security forces. His fate remains unknown to SNHR as well as his family.
The Syrian authorities have denied any connection with the disappearance of Samer Abdul Latif. SNHR has been unable to determine his fate, as have his family members, who fear that they may be arrested and tortured themselves if they continue to ask about his whereabouts and fate, as has happened in numerous previous cases.
SNHR has called on the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearance to intervene and to demand that the Syrian authorities release Mr. Abdul Latif immediately, as well as to expedite investigations into the fate of thousands of other forcibly disappeared citizens whose whereabouts and current conditions must also be revealed.