Citizen and Sons Disappear in Syria: Urgent Plea to UN for Their Release

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has alerted the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances about the case of Abdul Karim Ismail Shams al-Din and his sons, Anas and Malik. The family, hailing from Al-Qsair city in southern rural Homs governorate, were taken into custody and forcibly disappeared by Syrian regime authorities. Abdul Karim and Anas, who were civilian police officers, were arrested in 2012 at a checkpoint in al-Qtaifa town. Following their arrest, their whereabouts remain undisclosed. Abdul Karim, the father, was subsequently arrested in 2014 by Air Force Intelligence Directorate personnel during a visit to Homs city. The SNHR has urged UN committees and special rapporteurs to intervene and demand the immediate release of the trio and thousands of other disappeared citizens. Despite the Syrian government not being a party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, enforced disappearance is a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Arab Charter on Human Rights. SNHR also suggests that many of those forcibly disappeared have suffered from torture and possibly death.