Detention without Trial

Thousands of children in war zones have been detained without charge as national security threats.

Untold numbers have been tortured or have died in custody.

This is just one of their stories.

DAHI AL-MUSALMANI

Since the day they took Ahmad from me, I counted the days.

I used to count them on one piece of paper, then another… every month, every month.

Ahmad al-Musalmani was a 14-year-old boy from Syria.

We his brother Shadi was killed [in a protest], we sent Ahmad to Lebanon, to get him away from the raids and arrests that were bring conducted by security forces.

Nadim Houry

Human Rights Watch

On August 2nd 2012, Ahmad returned to Syria because his mother had died.

This is the checkpoint.

They made Ahmad and the other young men get out of the car and fill sandbags.

They also took their mobile phones. After about an hour, the officer started shouting, “Who does this mobile belong to?!”

Hamoudi [Ahmad] said, “It’s mine.”

He said, “There’s [a song critical of Assad] on it.”

“Come here, boys. Take your mobiles and leave.”

Those young men left, and Ahmad had to stay behind.

This is the room where they took Ahmad.

On the east side of the checkpoint.

They took Ahmad there, and, after that, he disappeared.

A military defector smuggled tens of thousands of photographs out of Syria showing bodies of dead detainees.

Thousands of the photographs were posted online.

I kept looking through the photographs. And I was surprised to find his photo. It was him. His nose, his face…It was him. It was Ahmad with a number. They put a number on him. Ahmad was a soul and he became a number. [crying]

Now this, this was a person that was partially wrapped in a plastic sheet. You can look at his face and his face will tell you that he’s pretty young.

He has this enormous areas of contusion of his upper extremities—both the left forearm, the elbows, and the right arm.

AHMAD AL-MUSALMANI

DR. NIZAM PEERWANI, Forensic Pathologist, Consulting Expert for Physicians for Human Rights

And then as you go down to the lower extremities you see there’s a very significant injuries. And one thing that we consider is possible, they were using some sort of a rounded object—a baton or a pipe. We came to the conclusion that his death was in custody, obviously, and that the underlying cause is blunt force traumatic injury.

Every day. Every day I remember him. Everyday I see him.

Every day I tell him a story. Every day I dream of him.

God Almighty didn’t give me children, but he was my entire life.

TEXT ON SCREEN
In April 2015, armed Islamist group Al Shabab attacked Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya killing 148 people. Al-Shabab has carried out dozens of other deadly attacks in Kenya in recent years. Kenyan authorities have cracked down and increased law enforcement operations, arresting many.

Adan, Brother of disappeared person:
Omar Yusuf was my older brother. On April 26 of last year, he was picked up by two men from the anti-terror police unit. This was the last time he was seen.
 

TEXT ON SCREEN
At least 34 people have been forcibly disappeared in Nairobi and northeastern Kenya in the last two years.

“Halima”, Relative of disappeared person
They did not tell me who they were but some of them were in plain clothes and some were dressed in police uniform. They put her in a Toyoto Probox, registration plate number KCC406Y and drove away with her. They said they were going to ask her questions and they would bring her back.
 

TEXT ON SCREEN
Counterterrorism operations have been marked by enforced disappearances, torture and arbitrary arrests.

Adan, Brother of disappeared person:
We don’t know whether he is alive or dead. There isn’t an office you can go to and enquire about him so it is very difficult.

“Halima”, Relative of disappeared person
They [the Pangani police] looked for her name in the incident book and said she was not on the list of people detained in that police station. They said they had not seen her. I also reported to Shauri Moyo police station. I told them of the date of her arrest and they said they hadn’t received any female detainees in their station on that date.
 

TEXT ON SCREEN
Kenyan authorities deny knowledge of the missing people’s whereabouts and refuse to acknowledge growing evidence of abuses by security forces.

Adan, Brother of disappeared person:
We are asking the government to produce him in court and charge him if he has committed a crime.
 

“Halima”, Relative of disappeared person
She has been disappeared in her own country. The government is silent about her whereabouts. No one knows whether she is dead or alive.
 

SCROLL OF NAMES OF THOSE MISSING

TEXT ON SCREEN
The Kenyan government should urgently provide information on the whereabouts of the disappeared people. Anyone in detention should be charged or released.