More than 112,000 Syrians forcibly disappeared under the Baath regime remain unaccounted for, with evidence suggesting many were killed in detention, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reported.

The scale of torture and extrajudicial executions in Syrian prisons has been increasingly revealed following the collapse of the 61-year Baath Party regime on December 8.

The SNHR’s database includes records of approximately 136,000 individuals who were detained or forcibly disappeared during the Baath regime. The organisation has documented the release of about 24,200 prisoners from detention facilities across Syria since President Bashar Al-Assad’s ouster.

SNHR Chairman Fadel Abdul Ghany told Anadolu that the group is currently verifying details of those freed from prisons in Aleppo on November 28, Hama on December 5, Homs on December 7, and Damascus on December 8.

“After excluding recent releases, 112,414 individuals detained by the regime remain unaccounted for and were most likely killed,” said Abdul Ghany. “Since their bodies have not been returned to their families, they are still categorised as forcibly disappeared … There is no evidence to suggest they are still alive.”

Assad regime deliberately delayed recording death data

Ghany said the regime deliberately delayed recording deaths in civil registries to prolong families’ anguish.

He highlighted that people killed by the Baath regime often had two dates recorded in the civil registry: the actual date of their death and the delayed date of its registration, sometimes years apart.

“They were killed and registered without notifying their families, leaving them to endure ongoing suffering while awaiting news or the discovery of mass graves,” he said, adding that the regime used this tactic to give false hope.

Mass graves

Ghany noted that dozens of mass graves remain undiscovered across Syria. “Only a few mass graves have been uncovered, and there are rumours of many more,” he said.

He stressed that identifying bodies and matching them with samples from families of the disappeared is a highly complex process, emphasising that only when bodies are identified can the fate of the forcibly disappeared be confirmed.

He also cautioned against fostering false hope among families regarding rumours of secret underground prisons. Ghany said that all of the regime’s prisons were opened after December 8. There is no one left in these facilities, nor are there any secret prisons.

Established in June 2011 to document systematic human rights violations in Syria, the SNHR continues its efforts under Abdul Ghany’s leadership as thousands of families await news of their missing loved ones.