Muhammad Raed Al-Tawil is a Syrian humanitarian volunteer and board member of the Damascus branch of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, with eighteen years of service including leading emergency responses to the Zaizoun dam disaster in 2002, the Iraq war relief (2003–2010) and the 2006 Lebanese conflict. At approximately noon on 08 November 2012, he was arrested by Syrian security forces from the Red Crescent headquarters in Damascus and taken to al-Khatib state security prison, with no charges disclosed. His family and colleagues only learned on 14 November 2012 that he was being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in custody while remaining incommunicado, provoking serious concern from human rights groups.