The Assad regime continues to crack down on Syrian dissidents, with many arbitrarily detained over the past month for speaking up against the deteriorating living and economic conditions in the regime-held areas.
In a report issued on Monday, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that it had recorded at least 154 arbitrary arrests across Syria in October, including against five children and three women. It noted that the Assad regime carried out the overwhelming majority of the arrests.
The report indicated that nothing has been known about the fate or whereabouts of 111 detainees, 56 of whom were detained by the Assad regime.
The monitoring group said that the PYD militia detained 44 people, including three children in the reporting period, while 16 others were detained by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham militant group. Around 21 others were detained by unidentified groups, the report added.
The Network pointed out that the majority of arrests took place in the provinces of Deir Ezzor, Aleppo, and Dara’a.
The Network called on the UN and the guarantors of the Astana talks to set up a special, impartial committee to follow up on the issue of enforced disappearance and press for the disclosure of the fate of around 100,000 disappeared persons in Syria, of whom 85 percent were detained by the Assad regime.
The Network stressed the need to release children and women as well as to stop taking families and friends as hostages. It also called for including the issue in the agenda of the upcoming Geneva meetings. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
