A/HRC/21/50 their defections from the Government forces or their involvement in protests. Also targeted were doctors who had treated protesters or members of the anti-Government armed groups. In at least three instances where the wanted individual could not be located, security forces arrested and detained members of his or her family instead. Two interviewees reported having been arrested and detained on multiple occasions. In three cases, interviewees stated that they had been initially held in temporary detention centres — in one case, a former fitness centre in Ar-Rastan — before being either released or moved to official detention centres. 8. Individuals were also reportedly arrested, and in one case detained, at checkpoints in Homs, Al Ladhiqiyah, Idlib, Aleppo, Dar‘a and Damacus governorates. Lists of wanted persons were allegedly circulated to checkpoints. Those arrested at checkpoints stated that they were targeted either for being defectors or for having organised or taken part in protests. In one instance, which could not be verified, an interviewee reported being arrested and detained in Tartus in March 2012 as injuries that he had suffered during a previous detention were viewed by Government forces as evidence of involvement in fighting. 9. Reports continue to be received of people being arrested — by security forces and Shabbiha — during and immediately following protests. According to interviews, arrests took place following protests in the cities of Idlib in March and April 2012, and Dar‘a and Damascus in April 2012. One interviewee, a 14-year-old boy, stated that he and several other adolescents were arrested after a protest in Idlib city in March 2012. The commission was unable to verify this account, but notes that another interviewee, who worked in a detention centre in Damascus until June 2012, reported that minors were arrested and detained following protests. 10. A number of others interviewed were arrested in the street in areas where there were no active hostilities at the time. Those arrested reportedly included five females, including a nine year old girl. Additionally, a young man was allegedly arrested in Aleppo in April 2012, having been found carrying a large amount of foreign currency, which was viewed as evidence of support to anti-Government armed groups. None of those arrested in these circumstances were taken to official detention centres, but instead were reportedly held in unofficial centres, set up in buildings close to their place of arrest. None of these incidents could be verified. 12. Only two of those interviewed, both arrested on suspicion of planning to defect, had been formally charged with any offence. No interviewee had been offered or received the benefit of legal counsel. Only one had received a family visit, with the majority unsure if their family were aware of the location of their detention. 13. In the days prior to release, many said that they had been made to sign or thumbprint a document, the contents of which were unknown to them. Three of those detained were reportedly brought before a judge and then released. In one unverified incident, the interviewee reported that the judge had ordered his release, but he had remained in detention for another 3 months. Also interviewed was a former member of the judiciary who indicated that security agencies brought to his court detainees who showed signs of abuse, including open wounds. He said that security agents did not permit questioning unless they were present and, on one occasion, held the judge at gunpoint. Several detainees stated that the judges did not question them about their injuries and that the presence of security units in the courtroom intimidated them. 14. The lengths of detention of those interviewed ranged from a few hours to approximately 5 months. The majority of those interviewed were held for 60 days or less by Government forces. 84