Peaceful Political Activists

Since the early days of the March 2011 uprising, Syrian security forces have targeted peaceful political activists involved in organizing, filming, participating in, and reporting on protests. Security forces have forcibly disappeared activists, held them in arbitrary and incommunicado detention, tortured and ill-treated them, and subjected them to unfair trials. In some cases, security agents have also detained and mistreated relatives to punish the primary targets or convince them to turn themselves in.