A woman born in 1973, Wafaa Muhammad Thafer Raed, from al Qsair city in Homs governorate’s western suburbs, was arrested by Syrian regime forces in June 25, 2013 as she passed a checkpoint near Tadmur Circle south of Homs city, and has been classified as forcibly disappeared ever since. Thereafter, the regime consistently denied detaining her and refused to allow anyone, even a lawyer, to visit her. On May 8, 2022, her family learned from a released detainee that she had died inside a Syrian regime forces’ detention center. We have information confirming that she was in a good health when arrested, which indicates that she died due to torture and lack of medical care.

SNHR can confirm that the Syrian regime failed to hand Wafaa’s body over to her family; this is standard practice for the regime, with the bodies of the majority of detainees who die in its detention centers being disposed of through mass cremations. Since the whereabouts of these prisoners remain unknown and they are not handed over to their relatives, these detainees continue to be classified as being among the forcibly disappeared.

SNHR can confirm that at least 132,667 Syrian citizens are currently still detained or forcibly disappeared in the regime’s detention centers, constituting a grave threat to the detainees’ wellbeing, particularly given the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

SNHR notes that at least 14,449 Syrian citizens have died due to torture in Syrian regime detention centers.

Source: Syrian Network