Access Center for Human Rights (ACHR) and Cedar Center for Legal Studies (CCLS) strongly condemn the disappearance of a Syrian refugee in Lebanon.
Case Details: On 14 October 2025, a Syrian refugee KKD was arrested at his private residence by the Intelligence Directorate of the Lebanese Army in Bekaa, Jenine in Lebanon, following his return from Syria. On the night of his arrest, the family was informed that he would be taken for brief questioning and would return within two days. However, he remained under arrest, and his personal identification documents, including an expired temporary residency certificate, were confiscated.
After his arrest, KKD was confirmed to be detained at the Ministry of Defense in Baabda on 3 November 2025 and remained in contact with his family as well as with a lawyer assigned to him on 4 November 2025.However, on 22 December 2025, the family was informed by MOD that he had been released from custody. Since that date, neither his family nor his lawyer has been able to contact him, despite repeated attempts. As such, given that the whereabouts and condition of KKD is unknown, his disappearance is considered to have occurred at the moment of his release, on December 22. Consequently, KKD has been forcibly disappeared for 18 days. His family continues to demand clarification of his fate, disclosure of his location and the ability to appoint a lawyer to represent him before competent authorities.
Context: The case of KKD, like many others[1], highlight a series of violations and human rights abuses committed by the Lebanese authorities, particularly affecting conflict-affected communities, including refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and other vulnerable populations. ACHR has documented four cases of forced disappearance of Syrian refugees in Lebanon in 2025 and a further 933 cases of arrests/arbitrary detention of Syrian refugees. While the legal team at CCLS submitted 12 cases of enforced disappearance [2]to the Public Prosecutor of Cassation Court during 2024 and 2023.
Syrian refugees are often arrested and subsequently forcibly disappeared without judicial safeguards or due process, held under degrading conditions and denied basic rights such as the right to contact family members, the right to legal representation and denied access to medical care, and family visits and violations documented include mistreatment, physical abuse and deaths in custody. Syrian refugees in Lebanon are especially vulnerable to enforced disappearance given their lack of legal safeguards in Lebanon and a widespread lack of refugee status which further risks other abuses such as torture and refoulement/forced deportation. As such a lack of access to basic documentation and proof of status can create a conductive environment for authorities to arrest refugees whilst maintaining a degree of plausible deniability by refusing to acknowledge the person’s fate or whereabouts with the intent of placing the victim outside the protection of the law. As such, cases such as the case of KKD highlight the need for full compliance with international human rights standards, including the prohibition of secret and incommunicado detention, the requirement that all arrests be carried out on the basis of a lawful judicial warrant, guaranteed and effective access to legal counsel and judicial review by courts and the obligation to conduct prompt, impartial and independent investigations into all enforced disappearance cases.
Legal Analysis: The arrest, detention and subsequent disappearance of KKD raises serious concerns under international human rights law. Enforced disappearance is defined as “the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law”[3].
KKD was arrested at his home by members of the Lebanese Army without an arrest warrant being provided to the family, in violation of Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)[4], to which Lebanon is a state party and is therefore bound by its obligations. In addition, Lebanese national laws clearly prohibits arbitrary arrest or detention and further stipulates various rights including the “right to know” for family members in Article 2 as well as the right to “equal treatment without discrimination” in Article 4 of the Law No. 105/2018 on the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons in Lebanon[5] and Article 7 of the Lebanese Constitution[6]. During his detention, his family received no official information regarding his whereabouts or legal status, which constitutes a violation of his rights as a detainee.
International human rights law guarantees the right of persons deprived of liberty to communicate with their family members, to be promptly informed, in a language they understand, of the reasons for their arrest and any charges against them (Article 9(2) ICCPR), to be brought without delay before a judicial authority and to have the lawfulness of their detention reviewed by a court (Article 9(3)(4) ICCPR). The confiscation of his personal documents and denial of access to legal counsel further contravene the guarantees of due process and fair trial under Articles 9 and 14 of the ICCPR. The circumstances of his arrest and subsequent disappearance also engage standards on enforced disappearance under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED). While Lebanon is not state party, the prohibition against enforced disappearance is widely recognized as customary international law[7] and prevent incommunicado detention. The failure to promptly inform family members of the place of detention and legal basis for deprivation of liberty also contravenes to Articles 17 and 18 of the ICPPED, as well as UN standards requiring that all detainees be registered and held in officially recognized places of detention. Such omissions place the detainee outside the protection of the law and significantly increase the risk of torture and other ill-treatment, contrary to Articles 7 and 10 of the ICCPR and the Convention against Torture (CAT). As affirmed by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in its General Comment, the failure to register detainees and disclose places of detention constitutes a key element of enforced disappearance.[8]
Of note, Lebanon signed and ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and its Optional Protocol, but it has not ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED). Accession would obligate Lebanon to criminalize enforced disappearance, ensure prompt, impartial, and transparent investigations, provide justice and reparations for victims and their families, and strengthen Lebanon’s compliance with international human rights law, including the ICCPR and Convention Against Torture (CAT). This is especially important in the context of the Syrian war. As noted by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances during its 105th session, and in its 2015 annual report (July 2017, A/HRC/36/39/Add.2), “there is a direct link between migration and enforced disappearance, either because individuals leave their country as a consequence of a threat or risk of being subjected to enforced disappearances there, or because they disappear during their journey or in the country of destination.”
Prevention against the violation of enforced disappearance in the long term and on a structural level includes ensuring that key international principles, such as the principle of non-refoulment are upheld as well as adopting evidence-based policies to foster access to regular, safe and orderly migration, and working towards enhancing pathways for regular migration, addressing and reducing vulnerabilities in migration, saving lives, countering trafficking and smuggling, training and adequately equipping border authorities, finding alternatives to detention, facilitating consular assistance and access.
ACHR and CCLS call the State of Lebanon to:
- Ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) and fully criminalize enforced disappearance in domestic law, in line with Lebanon’s binding obligations under international human rights treaties, including the ICCPR and the Convention against Torture (CAT). This includes ensuring prompt, impartial, independent, and transparent investigations, as well as access to justice, reparations, and guarantees of non-repetition for victims and their families.
- Prevent and prohibit enforced disappearance by fully implementing Law No. 105/2018 and Lebanon’s international obligations, ensuring that no person is held incommunicado or outside the protection of the law, and by penalizing any acts that obstruct investigations, conceal information, or exert pressure on disclosure and accountability processes.
- Ensure that no arrest is carried out without a lawful arrest warrant issued by a competent judicial authority (except in strictly defined circumstances provided by law), and that all persons arrested are promptly informed of the reasons for their arrest, their legal rights, and are brought without delay before a judicial authority, in accordance with international standards.
- Guarantee and facilitate effective access to justice for victims of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance and their families, including the right to legal counsel, the right to communicate with a lawyer and family members, and the obligation of authorities to promptly disclose accurate information regarding the detainee’s whereabouts, legal status, and place of detention.
- Guarantee the rights enshrined in Article 47 of the Lebanese Criminal Procedure Code, including access to a lawyer, communication with family members, and access to medical examination, particularly for persons detained under security-related or terrorism-related provisions.
- Enable independent monitoring of all places of detention, including by national and international oversight bodies, to prevent torture, ill-treatment, arbitrary detention, and enforced disappearance.
[1] ACHR Statement – Syrian refugees face arrest, disappearance and torture during UN supported Return Plan, 2 October 2025. See: https://achrights.org/en/2025/10/02/15965/
[2] CCLS UPR Submission, 15 July 2025. See: https://ccls-lebanon.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/LEB_UPR_CCLS-Report-1.pdf
[3] Article 2 of the ICPED and Preamble of the Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance. See: https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/wg-disappearances/about-enforced-disappearance#:~:text=An%20enforced%20disappearance%20is%20considered,deprivation%20of%20liberty%20or%20by
[4] OHCR – International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights
[5] Law No. 105/2018 on the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons in Lebanon. See: https://cfkdl.org/definition-of-law-105
[6] Lebanon Constitution, adopted in 1926 amended in 1990:
[7] ICRC – Customary IHL – Enforced Disappearance. See: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule98
[8] See WGEID General Comment on Enforced Disappearance as a Continuous Crime: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Disappearances/GC-EDCC.pdf