Desperate Syrians are turning to social media to ask for help in searching for missing family members, who they believe are in secret prisons run by the Bashar al-Assad regime. Prisons were known for torture and murder.
Thousands of prisoners have already been released from the notorious regime’s prisons after rebels overthrew the government of Assad, who fled to Russia. But for many families, the search continues.
“Hassan Muhammad… Arrest date 2018. If you know any information, you can communicate directly with the family through the comments,” read a post on a Facebook page to search for missing persons.
A poster on another page searched for a doctor, who reportedly had not been seen since her arrest in 2013.
At least 200,000 Syrians are missing, according to the Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets. Most were kidnapped or detained by the Assad regime or its affiliates. The group called on Moscow to pressure the ousted president to reveal the locations of secret prisons.
A Syrian woman still searching for her detained husband said government forces confirmed his death but his body was never released to her.
“There were no words to describe how I was feeling,” Umm Firas told CNN on Tuesday (10). “I was clinging to the hope that he would be released and that our family would be reunited,” he added.
Meanwhile, humanitarian organizations have urged Syrians not to exhume their dead.
“Burial sites or mass graves must be protected and preserved to allow for organized exhumation (as quickly as possible),” the Red Cross said on Tuesday (10). “This is also crucial to identifying and ascertaining the fate of the missing and providing long-awaited answers to their families.”
This content was originally published in Family members continue the search for Syrians missing under the Assad regime on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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