From Mezzeh Prison to an Unknown Fate: The Jawhar Family Has Been Searching for Their Sons for 50 Years

In 1975, brothers Arabi and Muhammad Jawhar were arrested without a warrant and without any knowledge of the true reason for their detention.

Those years were part of one of the most brutal periods of repression in Syria, where prisons and detention centers were used as tools to silence dissidents or suspected loyalists.

The family was able to visit the brothers inside Mezzeh Military Prison in Damascus in 1981, their first and last visit after their arrest. After that, news of their arrests ceased. Neither Arabi nor Muhammad's name appeared on any list of detainees, released detainees, or even among the victims who died under torture or in unknown detention conditions.

The story of the Jawhar family is not an exception; it is typical of tens of thousands of Syrian families who have been waiting for decades for an answer to one question: "Where are our sons?" The Mezzeh Military Prison, which was later closed, remains a dark spot in the memory of political detention in Syria, associated with grave violations, including torture, enforced disappearance, and denial of trial.

The family pleads: "We just want to know the truth. If they are alive, let us know where they are. If they are dead, let us know. Fifty years of waiting is enough."