On 03 February 2013 members of the Army security arbitrarily arrested Mohammed Atfah while he was crossing a checkpoint in his home city of Homs.

Mohammed Atfah was born on 01 January 1993. He worked as a volunteer with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) for approximately two years as a member of the “Psychosocial Support Program” offered by (SARC) to children in need in Homs.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) has received reliable information that Mohammed Atfah is being held at the Detention Centre in Homs which belongs to the Army Security. Further reports confirmed that he was subjected to severe physical and mental torture to a level that he became unable to recognize people who are with him in detention.

The GCHR fears for the safety of Mohammed Atfah and condemns his arrest and detention, which it believes are solely related to his peaceful humanitarian activities.

The GCHR urges the authorities in Syria to:

1. Immediately and unconditionally release Mohammed Atfah;
2. Immediately disclose the whereabouts of Mohammed Atfah;
3. Grant Mohammed Atfah  immediate and unfettered access to the medical treatment which he requires;
4. Grant Mohammed Atfah  immediate and unfettered access to his family and lawyers;
5. Guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Mohammed Atfah;
6. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders and humanitarian activists in Syria are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment. 

The GCHR also calls on the Russian government as well as other governments that have influence in Syria, the UN, the EU, and leading NGOs to join the campaign to secure his immediate release.

The GCHR respectfully reminds you that the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, recognizes the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders, their right to freedom of association and to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals. We would particularly draw your attention to Article 11: “Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to the lawful exercise of his or her occupation or profession,” and to Article 12 (2): “The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threat, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.”