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The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has briefed the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on the case of the Syrian citizen, Khaled Mohammad Ali al-Tallawi, born in 1987, who is from Homs city. He had been working as a taxi driver before his arrest. Khaled was arrested on Tuesday, December 11, 2012, by personnel from the Syrian regime’s State Security agency at an inspection checkpoint set up on al-Firdous Roundabout in al-Wa’er neighborhood in Homs city. He was then taken to an undisclosed location. Khaled has been classified as forcibly disappeared ever since, as his fate remains unknown to SNHR as well as his family.
SNHR has also briefed the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, as well as briefing the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, specifically in regard to the case of the citizen, Khaled Mohammad Ali al-Tallawi.
Syrian authorities have denied any connection with the enforced disappearance of the citizen, Khaled Mohammad Ali al-Tallawi. 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 other cases.
SNHR has called on the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, to intervene and to demand that Syrian authorities release Khaled immediately, as well as to secure the release of thousands of other forcibly disappeared citizens whose whereabouts and current conditions must also be revealed.
Although the Syrian government is not a party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, it is indisputably a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Arab Charter on Human Rights. Enforced disappearance constitutes a violation of both instruments.
SNHR also confirms that there are well-founded fears that many of those forcibly disappeared by the Syrian regime since 2011 may have been subjected to torture and possibly have died due to torture, with the number of citizens forcibly disappeared by the regime continuing to grow.