The Syrian Network documents more than 100 arrests in areas controlled by the Assad regime

The Syrian Network for Human Rights issued a report in which it documented more than 100 cases of arbitrary arrest, in addition to recording thousands of cases of “detention of freedom” for hours, targeting students and workers in government institutions affiliated with the Assad regime, to force them to vote for Bashar al-Assad, during the presidential elections.

The report indicated that “most arrests in Syria take place without a judicial warrant, when a person passes a checkpoint, or during raids, and it is often the security forces of the intelligence services of the Assad regime forces that are responsible for arrests away from the judicial authority.”

According to the report, “Arbitrary arrests carried out by the security services often lead to enforced disappearances, and the continuation of this methodology by the intelligence services indicates that the areas under the control of the Assad regime forces cannot constitute a safe haven for its residents, and therefore it is not a safe environment for the return of Syrian refugees to it from outside Syria, as some European governments are promoting, because there is no security stability in the presence of the same agencies that commit these violations.”

The report clarified that “among the arrests it recorded last May, the Assad regime forces arrested people who settled their security situation, and continued to pursue them, in the areas that had previously signed “settlement agreements” with the regime.

The “Syrian Network” report also recorded random arrests of civilians in Hama governorate, believed to have taken place on the basis of malicious security reports because of their opposition to the Assad regime.

These arrests were concentrated in Daraa, where the Assad regime forces, with Russian support, took control of the governorates of Daraa and Quneitra, in July 2018, under an agreement imposed on those wishing to do so.

The report monitored arrests of civilians in the capital, Damascus, for chanting anti-Assad phrases and tearing up pictures of Assad.

It is noteworthy that the play of the presidential elections ended with the announcement of Bashar al-Assad’s victory in a fourth term, on May 27, after an electoral campaign and hundreds of events in the areas controlled by the Assad regime forces.