A/HRC/28/69 116. The family of a man who had disappeared in Aleppo city in late 2011 searched for him in multiple intelligences branch in Aleppo city. When the man was released – from Sednaya prison in Damascus – in March 2014, he described being transferred from an intelligence agency in Aleppo city to multiple detention centres in Damascus. He was tortured during his detention. 117. Survivors of enforced disappearance consistently described being subjected to torture during their detention. One woman explained that her husband, whose detention in Adra prison in Damascus had been concealed by the authorities, died of the injuries sustained during the torture he endured after his release. 118. In all the instances documented, the victims were denied their fundamental right to due process. They were deprived of contact with the outside world, including close relatives. No legal assistance was provided. They were placed outside the law, at the mercy of their captors. 119. Not knowing whether their loved ones are dead and, if so, what has happened to their bodies, families can neither mourn nor adjust to their loss. One interviewee reported how her mother had a mental breakdown, unable to cope with the prolonged disappearance of her son, who went missing in 2011. One former detainee, on his release, was surrounded by women waving photographs of their male relatives, hoping that he had seen them alive in Government custody. Several survivors spoke of the distress caused by the awareness that their families did not know what had happened to them. 120. Women face specific hardships. The uncertainty created by the disappearance of their husbands or fathers has social and legal consequences, including on the status of marriage, right to inheritance and social welfare, and the management of the property of the disappeared person. 121. Enforced disappearance places its victims outside the law, violating their right to recognition as a person before the law, to liberty and security and freedom from arbitrary detention. It is, as evidenced by the accounts of those who have reappeared, often a gateway to the commission of further offences, such as torture. 122. Enforced disappearances perpetrated by the Government formed part of the attack referred to in paragraph 57 above and constitute a crime against humanity. 2. Non-State armed groups 123. Persons, often those perceived as not being in supportive of ISIS, have been abducted by the armed group and have subsequently disappeared. Such disappearances have been documented in Ar Raqqah and Aleppo governorates. 124. In March 2014, a man was taken from his home in Slouk by ISIS fighters on the ground that they believed him to be supportive of the Government. His family members made inquiries with ISIS administration in Slouk but received no information. His whereabouts remain unknown. 125. A bus driver was stopped at a checkpoint in Ar Raqqah and detained by ISIS fighters. His family believe he was targeted because he was Christian. They were too frightened to seek information about his whereabouts. He has not been heard from since. As previously reported, ISIS abducted a Jesuit priest, Father Dall’Oglio on 28 January 2013. Since his disappearance, there has been no information about his fate. 126. A man was held by ISIS in Al-Bab (Aleppo) in March 2014. His parents went to ISIS headquarters to inquire about where he was but received no response. The man reappeared in late 2014, after being released from ISIS detention in the town. 41