"Desperate families flocked to former detention centres, prisons, morgues, and mass grave sites to try to find their missing relatives after al-Assad's removal, and investigators gained unprecedented access to government documents, witness accounts and human remains. A limited number of detainees were released alive, while the fate of tens of thousands remained unknown, rendering them forcibly disappeared. This revealed a major tragedy that affected Syrian society as a whole."
"The rights group said in its report that at least 177,057 people, including 4,536 children and 8,984 women, were forcibly disappeared in Syria between March 2011 and August 2025. It estimated that the former government was responsible for more than 90 percent of those cases. Al-Assad's regime has systematically adopted a policy of enforced disappearance to terrorize and collectively punish society, targeting dissidents and civilians from various regions and affiliations, SNHR said."
At least 177,057 people, including 4,536 children and 8,984 women, were forcibly disappeared in Syria between March 2011 and August 2025, with more than 90 percent attributed to the former government. Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December, families searched former detention centres, prisons, morgues and mass grave sites while investigators accessed government documents, witness accounts and human remains. A limited number of detainees were released alive, but tens of thousands remain missing and classified as forcibly disappeared. The enforced disappearances were used systematically to terrorize and collectively punish dissidents and civilians. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa pledged to address disappearances and issued a presidential decree in May.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]