The Syrian refugees who returned to their home country between 2017 and 2021 from Lebanon and Jordan faced “grave human rights abuses and persecution” by the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Axar.az reports citing Turkish media that Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on this was released Wednesday.

“Returnees also struggled to survive and meet their basic needs in a country decimated by conflict,” the New York-based HRW said in a 72-page report titled Our Lives Are Like Death: Syrian Refugee Returns from Lebanon and Jordan.

According to the report: “Syria is not safe for return.”

The rights group interviewed 65 returnees or family members, and “documented 21 cases of arrest and arbitrary detention, 13 cases of torture, three kidnappings, five extrajudicial killings, 17 enforced disappearances, and one case of alleged sexual violence.”