Syria: Arrest and Disappearance of the Tuffaha Siblings

15 Nov 2013

On 13 November, the Alkarama Foundation and the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) jointly submitted an urgent appeal to the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) regarding the enforced disappearance of two siblings, Mohamed and Marwa Tuffaha. Mohamed and Marwa are of Palestinian nationality, but have been born in Syria and have resided there until their disappearance in October 2013. Mohamed is 22, while Marwa is 20, and they are both students at the University of Damascus.

The facts return to 1 October 2013 when armed security agents wearing civilian clothes raided the house of the Tuffaha family in Roukn Al Deen, Damascus, searching for Mohamed Tuffaha, who was not there. As a consequence, the security personnel prevented all family members from leaving the apartment, while ensuring that none of them could communicate with the outside world. The men would not answer questions about why Mohamed was wanted, nor did they identify themselves. However, one of them later stated that they were agents of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence (AFI).

Mohamed did not return home for the next 4 days, and the AFI agents held the entire family hostage for these 4 days. On 4 October 2013, they decided to leave and took his sister, Marwa Tuffaha, with them. Marwa's relatioves were told that she would be held hostage until Mohamed is arrested. That was the last time Marwa was seen or heard of, and her current fait and whereabouts remain unknown.

After this incident, Mohamed did not return home. It was only on 10 October 2013, that his family received a brief phone call, during which he said he was alive and fine. They received a second phone call on 26 October 2013, when he called his parents asking them to bring his military documents to Al Thawra Military Checkpoint on Al Thawra Street, Damascus.

When Mohamed's parents arrived at the checkpoint, they were received by an AFI officer, who explained that Mohamed had been arrested. Mohamed's parents then briefly saw their son, who looked exhausted and wore strange clothes, and they suspect that he had already spent a certain period in detention, contrary to the officer's assertions. They were not allowed to directly talk with him, and were then rapidly asked to leave. That was the last time Mohamed was seen or heard of.

On 27 October, Mr Tuffaha's relatives went to the AFI's Damascus branch to ask about him. However, they refused to acknowledge his detention. Since then, the family have submitted multiple inquiries to different security branches in Damascus about the whereabouts of both siblings, but to no avail.

The situation of the Tuffaha siblings is an example of the proliferation of enforced disappearances taking place in Syria. The experts of the Woking Group on Enforced Disappearances reaffirmed this in their statement issued on 13 November 2013 after its 101st session in Geneva, in which they say that they are "extremely concerned at the high number of enforced disappearances reported to occur in Syria and at the information that cases have risen exponentially since the conflict began".

Alkarama and the SNHR thus solicited the urgent intervention of the Working Group with the Syrian authorities to ensure that Ms and Mr Tuffaha are immediately released or placed under the protection of the law, and that their family be informed of their fate and whereabouts in the shortest possible delay, in accordance with Syria's obligations under international law.

Syria