Published : 02-10-2019
The family of Palestinian refugee Tareq Rateb Abdulatif, born in 1991, have called on the Turkish authorities and international human rights institutions to disclose the fate of their missing relative.
In appeals sent to AGPS, the family said Tareq disappeared from Latakia city, in Syria, on May 7, 2013, on his way back from Germany. His condition and whereabouts have remained unidentified.
327 Palestinian refugees, including 38 women and girls, have gone missing since the outbreak of the Syrian warfare, AGPS has found out. Most of those who have disappeared in the country are residents of Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees, south of Damascus.
Activists have accused pro-government militias of targeting Palestinians in arbitrary abduction sweeps carried out under the security guise. Scores of families have been blackmailed over the release of their missing relatives and have paid large sums of money to brokers, crooked lawyers, or government officials to get pieces of information about their conditions and whereabouts.
Along the same line, a number of Palestinian refugees, including relief officers, have been locked up in Syrian government prisons. Several of them have got their security situation worked out after the opposition outfits withdrew from southern Damascus, though.
Recently, AGPS has learned that an abduction sweep launched in Babila, Yalda, and Beit Sahem towns, south of Damascus, culminated in the detention of a number of Palestinian refugees over allegations of involvement in deadly shootouts during the conflict.
AGPS believes that the arbitrary internment of Palestinian refugees in war-torn Syria amounts to a war crime.
Sometime earlier, the Syrian authorities ordered Palestinian refugees sheltered in Babila, Yalda, and Beit Sahem, south of Damascus to work on clearing up their security situation at offices run by the Russian side, the Ministry of Reconciliation, and pro-government security forces. The measure was dictated following a reconciliation deal struck between the Syrian government and opposition outfits in April 2018.
Key to the deal was the retreat of gunmen from Yalda, Babila, and Beit Sahem to Idlib, north of Syria, after handing over their war arsenal. Civilians who wished to leave southern Damascus were also allowed access out of the area.
The family of Palestinian refugee Tareq Rateb Abdulatif, born in 1991, have called on the Turkish authorities and international human rights institutions to disclose the fate of their missing relative.
In appeals sent to AGPS, the family said Tareq disappeared from Latakia city, in Syria, on May 7, 2013, on his way back from Germany. His condition and whereabouts have remained unidentified.
327 Palestinian refugees, including 38 women and girls, have gone missing since the outbreak of the Syrian warfare, AGPS has found out. Most of those who have disappeared in the country are residents of Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees, south of Damascus.
Activists have accused pro-government militias of targeting Palestinians in arbitrary abduction sweeps carried out under the security guise. Scores of families have been blackmailed over the release of their missing relatives and have paid large sums of money to brokers, crooked lawyers, or government officials to get pieces of information about their conditions and whereabouts.
Along the same line, a number of Palestinian refugees, including relief officers, have been locked up in Syrian government prisons. Several of them have got their security situation worked out after the opposition outfits withdrew from southern Damascus, though.
Recently, AGPS has learned that an abduction sweep launched in Babila, Yalda, and Beit Sahem towns, south of Damascus, culminated in the detention of a number of Palestinian refugees over allegations of involvement in deadly shootouts during the conflict.
AGPS believes that the arbitrary internment of Palestinian refugees in war-torn Syria amounts to a war crime.
Sometime earlier, the Syrian authorities ordered Palestinian refugees sheltered in Babila, Yalda, and Beit Sahem, south of Damascus to work on clearing up their security situation at offices run by the Russian side, the Ministry of Reconciliation, and pro-government security forces. The measure was dictated following a reconciliation deal struck between the Syrian government and opposition outfits in April 2018.
Key to the deal was the retreat of gunmen from Yalda, Babila, and Beit Sahem to Idlib, north of Syria, after handing over their war arsenal. Civilians who wished to leave southern Damascus were also allowed access out of the area.
