No Fewer than 529 Cases of Arbitrary Arrest in Syria in November 2018 70% of all Arrests Were Made by Syrian Regime Forces

ARK News: SNHR said yesterday in its special monthly report that documents cases of arbitrary arrest at the hands of the parties to the conflict in Syria that no less than 529 arrest cases were recorded in November.

The report stresses that the Syrian regime is responsible for no less than 87% of all arbitrary arrests. In most cases, victims’ families can’t accurately identify the entity that made the arrest, considering that all of the forces that sided with the Syrian regime (Iranian militias, the Lebanese group Hezbollah, and others), aside from the four main security agencies and their many branches, have the authority to arrest, torture, and commit the crimes of enforced-disappearance.

The report notes that the mounting number of arrests is due to a number of reasons. Most notably, the fact that many detainees weren’t arrested over a crime they committed, but because of their relatives’ involvement with armed opposition factions or because they were involved themselves with humanitarian relief. Also, most of the arrests are made randomly and involve people who have no association with the popular uprising or relief efforts, or even military. In addition, many groups affiliated to Syrian regime forces have the authority to make arrests and carry out arbitrary arrests with the lack of any judicial supervisions by government authorities.

The report records 7,126 cases of arbitrary arrest since the start of 2018 and documents the toll of arbitrary arrests in November at the hands of the parties to the conflict. In addition, the report monitors the most notable raid and inspection points that resulted in detentions in November. The report also outlines the most notable individual cases and incidents of arbitrary arrest.

The report draws upon verifying information from various sources, such as victims’ families, SNHR members in Syrian governorates, cooperating local activists, and former detainees, in addition to contacting the families of the detainees and forcibly-disappeared persons, as well as people close to them and people who survived detention for the purpose of collecting as much information and data as possible, in light of extraordinarily and extremely complex challenges.

According to the report, the record of arbitrary arrests made in November featured a number of campaigns of raids and arrests by Syrian regime forces which focused on civilians and former armed opposition fighters in the areas that had signed settlement agreements with Syrian regime forces.

Meanwhile, the report notes, Self-Management forces continued enforcing their policies of arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance throughout the month of November, targeting political activists and members of civil society groups who oppose their views. These arrests were concentrated in Hasakah governorate.

In addition to these incidents, November also saw the arrests of doctors and local council personnel by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, whose members also continue to pursue and arrest armed opposition militants belonging to factions and armed groups.

Factions from the armed opposition, meanwhile, continued making arrests in the territories under their control, which were concentrated in Aleppo governorate, and particularly Afrin city.

The report outlines the toll of arbitrary arrests in November, as the report records no less than 529 cases. Of those, Syrian regime forces arrested 368, including 22 children and 24 women (adult female).

ISIS arrested 9 individuals, including one child. Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, arrested 19 individuals, all men. Lastly, factions from the armed opposition arrested 26 individuals, including two children.

The report also shows a distribution of cases of arbitrary arrests by governorate, where Aleppo saw the most arrests with 75 cases of arrest.

The report calls on the Security Council to follow on the implementation of resolution 2042, 2043, and 2139 which states that enforced-disappearance should cease.

Additionally, the report calls on the Human Rights Council to follow on the issue of detainees and forcibly-disappeared persons in Syria, and shed light on it in all of the annual meetings.

Also, the report calls on the Commission of Inquiry (COI) and the International, Impartial, and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) to launch investigations on the incidents included in this report and past reports. The report stresses that SNHR is willing to cooperate and provide more pieces of evidence and data.

Lastly, the report emphasizes that children and women should be released, and families and friends should not be taken as war hostages. The report calls on the official who was newly appointed in charge of the detainee file at the UN special envoy office to include the detainees issue in the upcoming rounds of Geneva talks, as this issue is of a greater importance to the Syrian people than other far-term issues that can be jointly addressed later, such as the constitution.

Source: Syrian Human Rights Network

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