Syrian intelligence officers have subjected women, children and men returning to Syria to unlawful or arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment including rape and sexual violence, and enforced disappearance. These violations have been a direct consequence of perceived affiliation with the opposition simply deriving from refugees’ displacement. Based on these findings, Amnesty International concludes that no part of Syria is safe for returnees to go back to, including Damascus or the Damascus area, and people who have left Syria since the beginning of the conflict are at real risk of suffering persecution upon return.
Index Number: MDE 24/4583/2021