On 22 April 2014, Alkarama solicited the intervention of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention with the Syrian authorities asking for the immediate release of Naef Al Refai, a military judge who was arrested on 22 March 2012 and arbitrarily sentenced to seven years and a half in prison.
We had expressed grave concern over Naef's fate as he had been in the past subjected to torture while detained. When his family visited him for the first time in late March 2014, he was in extremely bad condition. We unfortunately learned that Naef had died in detention, on 27 April 2014, before the competent Unites Nations bodies intervened.
His family, with whom we share the grief of this loss, was only informed of their love one's death on 6 May 2014, as they came to visit him. The prison guards simply informed them that he had "died nine days ago from tuberculosis" and had "already been buried". They also refused to deliver them a death certificate or even Naef's identity card.
Alkarama has requested the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions to intervene on behalf of his family, asking for the Syrian authorities to open an investigation into the circumstances of Naef Al Refai's death and that his remains be returned promptly. We also wish to stress the need for prompt investigations into all cases of suspicious deaths in custody, possibly due to arbitrary executions, and call upon the Syrian authorities to prosecute those responsible.