CAT/C/SYR/CO/1 Enforced disappearances 21. The Committee is deeply concerned at the numerous reports regarding a high number of persons involuntary disappeared in the State party. The 2009 report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (A/HRC/13/31)) refers to allegations of enforced disappearance of 28 persons, on which the delegation failed to provide sufficient and precise explanations and information. Furthermore, the Committee has received numerous and credible reports pointing at a much higher number of persons subjected to disappearance. These allegations concern, in particular, the disappearances of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and those that occurred during the military presence of the Syrian Arab Republic in Lebanon since the early 1970s. The Committee has been informed about the Lebanese-Syrian official commission that was established on 31 July 2005 to look into the issue of disappeared Syrians in Lebanon and disappeared Lebanese in the Syrian Arab Republic. A total of 640 cases were submitted to the commission, but no further action has been taken to investigate these cases. Furthermore, the Secretary General of the Lebanese Centre for Human Rights, who is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, has not been permitted entry to the State party to research these matters. The Committee expresses its concern that the competent authorities have not initiated proceedings to investigate the fate of missing persons and to identify, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of enforced disappearances, which constitutes a violation of the Convention (arts. 1, 2, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 16). The State party should as a matter of urgency investigate every case of reported enforced disappearances and communicate the results of the investigations to the families of missing persons. The Committee urges the State party to establish, within an appropriate time frame, an independent commission of inquiry into all disappearances, including of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and those that occurred during the military presence of the Syrian Arab Republic in Lebanon since the early 1970s, to prosecute and punish perpetrators and to provide effective remedies and rehabilitation to the victims. The Committee encourages the State party to collaborate with international organizations on questions of enforced and involuntary disappearances. Investigations 22. Taking into account the explanations provided by the State party during the dialogue, the Committee continues to be concerned about the reported riots that took place in Sednaya prison on 4 July 2008 where, following protest actions from the prison population an action was initiated by the police, that resulted in a number of persons injured or killed. Despite repeated requests for an investigation and confirmation as to the number and names of those killed and injured, there has been no official and independent investigation into or public announcement of the identities of persons killed or injured, nor any information on action taken to clarify the use of force and other circumstances surrounding the event (art. 12). The State party should urgently carry out an independent investigation of the Sednaya prison incident of July 2008 and provide the Committee with detailed information on the circumstances of the death of prisoners in that incident. The State party should also inform the families of the prisoners involved in the incident as to whether their relatives are alive and still held in prison. The State party should further inform the Committee as to whether it conducts regular monitoring in this prison. 23. The Committee is concerned about the case of three Canadian nationals, Ahmed AlMaati (arrested on his arrival at the Damascus airport on 12 November 2001), Abdullah Almalki (arrested on his arrival at the Damascus airport on 3 May 2002) and Maher Arar 8