Syria: Defecting Pilot Goes Missing Following Abduction by Air Force Intelligence in May 2013
On 24 August 2015, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians sent a communication to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) regarding the case of Nasrallah Al Moazzin, who disappeared following his abduction by members of the Air Forces Intelligence on 25 May 2013 in the Idlib countryside.
A former colonel in the Military College of Aleppo and pilot officer in the Syrian Air Forces, 48-year-old Nasrallah Al Moazzin was abducted on 25 May 2013 between the checkpoints of Kafrayya and Al-Fu'ah, two areas under the authorities' control, in the Idlib countryside. According to his relatives, the reason behind his abduction is that he was a defecting pilot wanted by the authorities.
Before his disappearance, Al Moazzin was mediating for the release of some people – among whom his sister's son – who had been arrested and detained by the Syrian army. His behaviour did not go unnoticed and the Syrian security services, in particular the Air Force Intelligence Branch of Aleppo, bombed his house in retaliation, killing his entire family. After this event, Al Moazzin defected from his position as a pilot officer and became wanted by the authorities, leading to his arrest in May 2013.
Fearing further reprisals, Al Moazzin's relatives did not inquire about his fate and whereabouts with the Syrian authorities. His fate therefore remains unknown to date, although his family believes that he is likely to be held at the Air Force Intelligence Branch in Aleppo.
"Cases of abductions of defecting soldiers or men who refuse to serve in the army are common in Syria," comments Ines Osman, Legal Officer for the Mashreq at Alkarama. "What is worse is that the men are not the only victims – their entire families too face reprisals as they are seen as having 'betrayed' the regime."
Left with no other resort at the national level, Al Moazzin's family contacted Human Rights Guardians and Alkarama in order to shed light on his fate and whereabouts. Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians in turn seized the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), calling upon it to ask the Syrian authorities to release him immediately or, at very least, to put him under the protection of the law by disclosing his whereabouts and allowing his family to visit him without restriction.
In view of the widespread and systematic practice of enforced disappearance in the country, Alkarama calls upon the Syrian authorities to put an end to it in accordance with their obligations under international law, including by:
• Opening investigations into all reported cases of disappearances;
• Prosecuting the perpetrators of these crimes; and
• Providing reparations to survivors and their families.
For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008).