Emirati dissident and member of the “UAE94” and “UAE84” arrested in Syria
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November 13, 2025
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November 13, 2025
Jasem Rashed al-Shamsi, a former UAE government official turned prominent dissident, was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison in the 2013 "UAE94" mass trial after supporting democratic reforms in the UAE. In December 2023, he faced new baseless terrorism-related charges as part of the "UAE84" group and was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2024, while the UAE added him to its Local Terrorist List in January 2025 and pursued him through Interpol notices. After living in exile in Turkey, he relocated to Syria with his family in December 2024, but on November 6, 2025, Syrian security forces arrested him in Damascus without a warrant or information about the reason for his arrest, transferring him to an undisclosed location and placing him at imminent risk of extradition to the UAE, where he faces serious risk of torture, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance. On November 10, 2025, EDAC and MENA Rights Group submitted his case to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance (UN WGEID) to request Syria and the UAE to disclose his fate and whereabouts.
Two brothers disappeared in the aftermath of the 2012 mass arrests in Daraa
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December 05, 2022
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December 05, 2022
Hasan and Feras Al Hariri are two brothers who own a garage in Kuwait where they fix cars. In July 2012, they returned to their hometown of Buser al-Harir, in Daraa Governorate, Syria, where their parents live.
Fouad Houblos, Lebanese survivor of September 21 shipwreck off the Syrian coast, disappears after transfer to Tartus military hospital
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October 06, 2022
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December 01, 2022
On September 21, 2022, a boat transporting about 150 persons sunk off near Arwad Island, beside the coast of Tartus, Syria. The boat was heading towards Europe from north Lebanon.
Ali Mustafa, abducted in Damascus and forcibly disappeared since July 2013
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July 07, 2022
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July 07, 2022
Ali Mustafa, a Syrian national from the town of Masyaf, was abducted by Syrian government forces and forcibly disappeared on July 2, 2013. Prior to his disappearance, Mustafa began residing with his daughters in their family house in Damascus, located in the “Hay al-Muhajireen” neighbourhood, close to the residence of the Syrian president. The neighbourhood in question has been uninterruptedly under the Syrian government’s control.
Syrian student Abdul Qadir Al Natour arrested in 2012 and disappeared since
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June 24, 2022
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June 24, 2022
Prior to his arrest, Abdul Qadir Al Natour was studying at a religious institute in Damascus. When demonstrations started in the context of the Arab spring, Al Natour took part in the marches, including shortly before his abduction.
Syrian defected officer disappeared in Lebanon and Syria since November 2014
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January 20, 2021
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April 18, 2021
Mohammad Nassif is a Syrian defected officer with a rank of Captain. He was working at the Faculty of Electronic warfare in Set Zaynab, Syria.
On October 29, 2014, he entered Lebanon legally. On November 25, 2014, Nassif was travelling by bus through the Beqaa when he was stopped at a mobile checkpoint by members of Hezbollah.
Jordanian citizen Rafat Abu Nabhan freed 18 months after his arrest in March 2019 in Syria
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November 02, 2020
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November 02, 2020
After the TV channel Abu Nabhan worked for was shut down in February 2019 due to a lack of funding, Abu Nabhan’s wife – a Syrian national – moved to Damascus, where she currently resides with their children.
On March 7, 2019, Abu Nabhan was travelling from Lebanon to Syria by taxi to join his family in Damascus. Immediately after entering Syria through the Masnaa border crossing, he was stopped by members of the Syrian Army. The officers arrested him and took him to an unknown location.
Two brothers disappeared in the aftermath of the 2012 Karam El Zeitoun massacre in Homs
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September 29, 2020
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September 29, 2020
On March 11, 2012, a group of Shabiha “militias” committed a massacre in the Karam El Zeitoun neighborhood, where Imad and Alaa Al Ammar were living with their family. On the day of the massacre, all family members, except for Imad and his father, were outside of Homs.
At the end of April 2012, Al Allawi was working in the warehouses of the Air Defense Administration located in Marj Al Sultan, in the Rif Dimashq Governorate, Syria. After the warehouses were targeted by the Free Syrian Army, officers investigated Al Allawi for “not defending the warehouses.”
Disappearance of Mohammad Al Ahmad Al Kamesh since arrest by Syrian Military Security in 2014
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July 06, 2020
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July 06, 2020
On January 24, 2014 at around 12 p.m., Al Ahmad Al Kamesh was driving his car from the Hama fire station where he was working, when he was arrested by members of the Military Security at a checkpoint located near the fire station and brought to an unknown place of detention.
