The killing of Mohamed Ghamira, a 29-year-old former Syrian civil defense (White Helmets) volunteer, while in custody of a police station in Al-Haffeh, Lattakia countryside, has sparked anger and fear among people in Syria today.
According to his family, Mohamed was beaten by policemen during his three-day custody at the station and was in a critical condition in intensive care for four days until his death was announced on Sunday. Public statements by his family and the government have stated that his death is the result of the beating he was subjected to.
Following the announcement yesterday, families groups, survivors, activists and citizens have taken to social media to express anger that another citizen has been killed under torture while in costudy in the new Syria, stating that such crimes continue to be committed under the transitional government rule with no real accountability.
The case of Ghamira is not unprecedented. According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), in 2025 alone, 32 people have died as a result of torture at the hands of authorities and armed groups in Syria, including the transitional government. SNHR also reported that the Syrian authorities have arbitrarily detained 141 individuals between January and June 2026. A new report by Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) has collected 19 testimonies from survivors of detention and torture and relatives of individuals who died or went missing while detained, including ‘14 cases in which individuals were subjected to torture or died in custody between June 2025 and June 2026’.
Families For Freedom, a women-led initiative advocating for justice for Syria’s detainees, has issued a statement condemning the violations suffered by Mohammad Ghamira, which led to his death. Kholoud Helmi of Families For Freedom said:
“What happened to Mohammad is painful and frightening for us as families who have lived for decades with the impact of detention, torture, and death in places of detention. We struggled for years to bring these crimes to an end, and we cannot accept their recurrence today.
Accountability in Mohammad’s case is essential, but it is not enough on its own; we want clear measures and policies that prevent violations before they happen, rather than being forced each time to demand an investigation after it is too late.”
Diab Serieh of the Association of Detainees and the Missing in Sednaya Prison (ADMSP), and a survivor of torture and enforced disappearance himself said:
“Remaining silent about Mohammed’s killers amounts to complicity with the very legacy against which the people of Syria rose up. So many sacrificed dearly for freedom and dignity, to close the dark chapter of their country’s history, and to end these practices forever. Justice for him, and for all those forcibly disappeared and under torture in detention, remains an unwavering demand that we will never abandon.”
Truth Tents, a grassroot initiative by families of Syria’s disappeared across Syria said in a public statement:
“For us, this is not an isolated incident. We know this pattern all too well because we are families who have lived through detention and enforced disappearance, and have seen how arrest can lead to torture and then to unbearable loss. What happened to Mohammad affects us directly and reopens the wounds of tens of thousands of Syrian families. We reiterate that torture in places of detention is a crime that can never be justified under any circumstances.”
The interior ministry released a statement on Sunday saying that “an investigation will open and those who proved to have committed mistakes will be held to account”. The statement has drawn anger and scrutiny by so many.
Wafa Mustafa of The Syria Campaign said:
“The ministry’s statement is yet another empty promise of an investigation that fails to even acknowledge that what happened was a crime and not a “mistake” or “misconduct”. It is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of those impacted by the crimes of enforced disappearance and torture. It is also a result of the impunity that the perpetrators of these crimes have enjoyed for years, including Hayaat Tahrir al-Sham, who has a track record of arbitrary detention and killing under torture since their rule in Idlib.”
Razan Rashidi of The Syria Campaign said:
“It’s saddening and outrageous that a family has to mourn a loved one in today’s Syria. Mohamed was a former White Helmet volunteer who served through years of war. He is dead today because the use of arbitraty detention and torture continues. Our hope stems from the power of community – from families, to survivors, to young people – that today is saying ‘no’ and speaking up against these crimes. The transitional government must listen and put real efforts into institutional and legal reforms, justice and accountability, not only procedural reactive steps.”
Calls for protests in Aleppo, Damascus and Lattakia are being announced by activists, inviting people to take to the streets today and tomorrow to demand justice, dignity and an end to the ongoing crimes of arbitrary detention, torture and killing under torture in Syria.