Action Group – Syria
After more than thirteen years of enforced disappearance and a complete lack of information about them, new data has revealed the deaths of the children of Syrian dentist Rania al-Abbasi. This development brings renewed attention to the plight of thousands of missing and forcibly disappeared persons in Syria, including dozens of Syrian Palestinians whose families remain unaware of their fate to this day.
This revelation is of particular importance to the families of the missing, as it represents a step towards uncovering the truth in one of the most prominent cases of enforced disappearance in the country. Meanwhile, other families are still waiting for any information about their loved ones who disappeared during the years of conflict.
Among these families is the case of the Syrian Palestinians Amayri family, who disappeared en masse in the al-Tadamon neighborhood south of Damascus on June 16, 2013, with no confirmed information about their fate since then.
According to documentation by the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria, ten members of the family, including women and children, disappeared: Mahira Muhammad Amayri, her daughters Hadeel, Aseel, Widad, and Razan, Suhair Muhammad Amayri, Maysaa Jamal Idris, Firas Walid al-Dasouqi, and his two children, Hamza and Hala, who were only three and a year and a half old, respectively, when they disappeared.
The family disappeared from the Nasreen Street area in the al-Tadamon neighborhood, which was then under the control of armed groups loyal to the Syrian regime, including a group led by Muhammad Saleh al-Ras, according to local testimonies and information.
The case of Rania al-Abbasi and her family began in March 2013, when the Syrian doctor, her husband Dr. Abdul Rahman Yassin, and their six children disappeared from their home in the Dummar Project in Damascus. The case became one of the most prominent cases of enforced disappearance in the Syrian consciousness in recent years.
In this context, it was announced that reliable and corroborating findings have been reached, allowing for a high degree of professional certainty that the six children are dead. The search for remains and the completion of investigations into the case are ongoing.
This development serves as a reminder of the thousands of Syrian and Palestinian-Syrian families still awaiting news of their loved ones, amidst persistent human rights demands for the truth to be revealed about all missing and forcibly disappeared persons, and for their families’ right to know, to justice, and to accountability.
Observers of the missing persons file believe that the National Commission for Missing Persons’ announcement of findings related to the Abbasi family case underscores the urgent need to continue efforts to uncover the fate of all missing persons without exception, including Syrian Palestinians refugees, dozens of whose families are still waiting for answers about their loved ones.
The National Transitional Justice Commission had affirmed that knowing the fate of the victims is a fundamental right of the families, and that reaching the truth must be accompanied by completing investigations, identifying those responsible for the violations and holding them accountable, in accordance with the principles of transitional justice and non-impunity.