Syria's Interior Ministry has announced the results of an investigation into the death of a detainee with hemophilia, finding that an investigator will face prosecution, as reported by infohub.kz.
Mohammad Ghamira, a 29-year-old father of two, was a former volunteer with the White Helmets civil defense organization, which operated in opposition-held areas before the ouster of former President Bashar Assad. He was detained in Latakia after being accused of theft. Family members said they had informed police that Ghamira had hemophilia, a condition affecting the blood's ability to clot, and warned against hitting him. However, an investigator slapped him during interrogation.
Ghamira died in a hospital in Latakia on Sunday after being released from jail. His death sparked widespread outrage in Syria, evoking dark memories of torture and abuse in detention centers under the Assad dynasty's decades-long rule.
Maj. Gen. Ahmed Latouf, head of the investigation committee, said medical experts found that Ghamira died of complications from a cerebral hemorrhage. The investigation revealed that a police interrogator had slapped Ghamira in the neck despite knowing the risk to his health.
The investigator has been referred to the public prosecution division, and disciplinary investigations into other police personnel are ongoing. Rights groups have said that abuses in detention centers have persisted under the new authorities. However, the group Syrians for Truth and Justice said it did not find evidence of a single centralized system equivalent to the torture apparatus entrenched by the Assad regime.