In a statement issued recently by Amnesty International, the human rights organisation said that Randa Ayyubi (40 years), her husband Mamduh Tatari (46 years, agricultural engineer) and their eldest son Muhammad Adib Tatari (15 years, schoolboy) have "disappeared", apparently after Randa Ayyubi made an anti-government remark in the street outside the family apartment, in Rukn al-Din, Damascus. She, her husband and eldest son were arrested by security forces on the same evening, 17th October 1999, leaving their three other children, aged six, five, and 18 months, alone at home, with nobody to look after them! 

The statement said that the Tatari family do not belong to any political group, nor do they have any political affiliation. All appeals from friends and relatives and Amnesty International to the Syrian authorities for information have not succeeded. The family are believed to be in incommunicado detention, where they are at risk of torture. 

It is worth to mention that hundreds of political and conscience prisoners have been held in incommunicado for years in Syria. Many of them usually "disappeared " at the time of their arrest. "Disappearance" lasts years before their families and friends got hints of information about their whereabouts. In numerous cases, it was not possible to trace any information of political detainees. Syrian security forces and Moukhabarat uses torture in routinely and methodological way against political and conscience detainees.

The Syrian Human Rights Committee demands Syrian authorities to release Randa Ayyubi, Mamduh Tatari and Muhammad Adib Tatari, to return them to their family which was tattered by detention, without having any sense of responsibility towards children and minors. SHRC demands Syrian authorities also to stop violating freedom of expression, holding hostages and minors violating International Covenants for just a comment, remark or criticism. 

SHRC appeals to all human rights groups to act on behalf of the Tatari family until their release, and to work hard to put an end to the harsh security grip imposed on Syrian people for more than three decades. SHRC thanks also all human rights groups who adopted this case and all similar human cases towards a better human rights future in Syria.