Syria: Two Brothers Missing Since Their 2013 Abduction by Military Security
Between February and March 2013, two brothers of the Al Arnaout family were arrested in Homs by the Military Security. More than three years later, their whereabouts remain unknown. Concerned over their fate, Alkarama submitted in June 2016 their case to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID), hoping its intervention will help shed light on their fate.
On 4 February 2013, 48-year-old Abdel Kafi was working in his shop selling wooden chairs in Bab Houd, Homs, when members of the Military Intelligence Directorate, also known as "Military Security", broke in and arrested him, as witnessed by his neighbours.
A month later, on 4 March 2013, his 59-year-old brother Abdel Moein, employee at the Electricity Public Company, was walking on a street near Al Hajj Atef square in Homs, just after buying some items in a shop near his house, when he was arrested by a patrol of the same "Military Security" and brought to an unknown location. The arrest was also witnessed by many people who later informed his relatives.
The family of the missing brothers tried to inquire about them at the different security branches in Homs but with no avail. They fear that they may have been arrested as they might be suspected of supporting the opposition. One of their relatives, in fact, had not attended the mandatory military service.
"Abducting relatives of deserted soldiers is a form of reprisals against those who are deemed 'disloyal' to the government," explains Inès Osman, Regional Legal Officer for the Mashreq region at Alkarama. "The objective is to instill fear in the civilian population, that the population be aware that any dissent will be crushed."
Alkarama therefore solicited the intervention of the WGEID with the Syrian authorities to ensure that the relatives of the two disappeared be immediately informed of the brothers' fate and whereabouts and that they be released or immediately placed under the protection of the law.
For more information or an interview, please contact media@alkarama.org (Tel: +41 22 734 1008).