Arbitrary arrest | Regime security services arrest humanitarian activist in Tartous, amid demands to disclose the fate of political prisoners

Tartous province: Members of regime security services arrested a humanitarian activist known as “Younes Suleiman,” nicknamed “The Village Farmer,” in Tartous province following a malicious report filed against him, where he was taken to a security branch and his fate remains unknown.

This coincided with a state of discontent among civilians, where they called for releasing him and all prisoners of conscience in regime’ prisoners and disclosure of their fate, whether they are alive or dead.

This is not the first operation of its kind, as the regime’s security services had arrested media activists, politicians, and opinion makers in regime-held areas, where dozens of them still remain in regime prisons and their fate remains unknown.

On February 26, SOHR sources reported that Regime forces arrested a journalist from Tartus city working for “Al-Thawurah” newspaper, after summoning him to the judicial Palace in the city due to shearing a post on his personal page on Facebook, supporting peaceful protests in Al-Suwaidaa province, where his whereabouts and fate remain unknown.

The post read: “a movement where I have not seen a rifle challenging authority or a state, a movement where its squares do not witness a bearded swordsman brandishing his sword to behead a teacher, judge, or woman, a movement where the necks of soldiers are not sacrificed to be showcased in front of camera lenses, a movement where the bodies of officers and police officers are not dragged, a movement where flags of occupying nations are not raised. This is my perspective on the movement in Al-Suwaidaa, and I still hold onto it.”

The journalist added: “ ten days before the end of the past year, I was summoned for questioning at the Criminal Security Branch in Tartus. Today is the first session of my judicial hearing, where I will stand before the investigating judge and confidently repeat what I have written, trusting in the justice of the judiciary. I believe that only the judiciary will vindicate me and restore my reputation.”