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Syria: Tens of thousands have disappeared

March 06, 20197:00 p.m.

MADRID

Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62). 7:00 p.m. Free entry until the event’s capacity is reached.

In Spanish and Arabic, with simultaneous translation.

Fadwa Mahmoud, Leen Hashem and Ricardo García Vilanova are taking part in this conference, which is being held in conjunction with the exhibition “Tens of Thousands,” organized by Amnesty International. It is on display at the Casa Árabe headquarters in Madrid.

Since the Syrian crisis began in 2011, tens of thousands of people have disappeared after being detained, arrested or kidnapped by the Syrian government or, to a lesser degree, by armed opposition groups. Many of the disappeared are political activists, human rights defenders, journalists, medical professionals and humanitarian workers.

Over the last eight years, families have desperately attempted to find out what fate their loved ones suffered and where they ended up, in vain until now. Many have met through “Families for Freedom,” a group created by women like Fadwa Mahmoud, a Syrian activist, and the wife and mother of Abd al Aziz al Khayyir and Maher Tahan, respectively, who disappeared in September of 2012 at a Damascus airport checkpoint.

This conference is taking place in conjunction with the exhibition “Tens of Thousands,” to be officially opened after the round table discussion at 8:00 p.m. in the Hall of Columns at Casa Árabe.

Fadwa Mahmoud is a Syrian activist who co-founded “Families for Freedom.” She is the wife and mother of disappeared Syrian citizens.

Leen Hashem is a human rights activities and forms part of Amnesty International’s investigation team on Syria. She works out of the organization’s regional office in Beirut.

Photographer and video journalist Ricardo García Vilanova specializes in conflict zones and humanitarian crises. In recent years, he has covered the Arab Springs and the uprise of the armed group which named itself the “Islamic State,” in work which he began in 2011 and continues still today in countries like Syria, Iraq and Libya. He has also reported from Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Chad, Haiti and Yemen, as well as other locations.