‘Over 112,000 missing Syrians probably killed in detention centers by Assad regime’
ISTANBUL (AA) – More than 112,000 Syrians who disappeared under the Baath regime remain unaccounted for, with evidence suggesting many were killed in detention, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) states.
The scale of torture and extrajudicial executions in Syrian prisons has been increasingly revealed following the collapse of the 61-year Baath Party regime on Dec. 8.
The SNHR’s database includes records of approximately 136,000 individuals who were detained or disappeared during the Baath regime. The organization has documented the release of about 24,200 prisoners from detention facilities across Syria since the regime’s fall.
SNHR Chairman Fadel Abdul Ghany told Anadolu that the group is currently verifying details of those freed from prisons in Aleppo on Nov. 28, Hama on Dec. 5, Homs on Dec. 7, and Damascus on Dec. 8.
“After excluding recent releases, 112,414 individuals detained by the regime remain unaccounted for and were most likely killed,” said Abdul Ghany.
“Since their bodies have not been returned to their families, they are still categorized as forcibly disappeared … There is no evidence to suggest they are still alive,” he explained.
– Mass graves –
“Only a few mass graves have been uncovered, and there are rumors of many more,” Ghany said.
He stressed that identifying bodies and matching them with samples from families of the disappeared is a highly complex process, emphasizing that only when bodies are identified can the fate of the forcibly disappeared be confirmed.
He also cautioned against fostering false hope among families regarding rumors of secret underground prisons.
He said that all of the regime’s prisons were opened after Dec. 8. There is no one left in these facilities, nor are there any secret prisons.
Established in June 2011 to document systematic human rights violations in Syria, the SNHR continues its efforts under Abdul Ghany’s leadership as thousands of families await news of their missing loved ones.
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