Nasser Saber Bondek, an employee of the Ministry of Information and humanitarian activist aiding the internally displaced, was arrested on 17 February 2014. He was arrested from his home in Sahnaya, in the suburbs of Damascus.

Human rights lawyer Jihan Amin, who was arrested in the same neighborhood raid and later released in April 2014, told Nasser’s family that she had spotted him in Military Intelligence Branch 227 in Damascus. Apart from this, his family has received no information on Nasser’s whereabouts from the Syrian authorities, despite making several official requests. His wife, Fariza, told Amnesty International she heard so many rumours about her husband that she no longer knows what to believe.

The reasons behind Nasser’s arrest and enforced disappearance are still unclear. Family members believe he may have been arrested as a result of his involvement in protests at the beginning of the crisis. A close relative explained: “We did not think Nasser was in danger of being arrested. He had taken part in some peaceful protests, but when he was arrested they had died down. Also, he was doing well in his job [with the Ministry of Information], and we thought that would protect him.”

According to his relative, Nasser is an accomplished poet and writer and a loyal father. She told Amnesty International: