Palestinian Islamic Jihad co-founder threatened with 'unlawful' deportation from Syria

Adel al-Natour, a 71-year-old co-founder and former member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), has been detained in Syria without trial since late 2025. His family reports that he remains held without access to legal counsel and has lost 20 kilograms since his detention. Natour left PIJ in 1995 and has been held in Syria since his detention.

His family was only allowed to visit him four times since his arrest, during which time he was unaware of the end of the war in Gaza. Security forces recently informed his family that Natour would be deported from Syria in 10 days. The family, who have received assurances from authorities that he would be released, is now seeking to appeal his deportation order.

Human rights organizations consider his detention to be unlawful and one of many cases of arbitrary detention since the interim authorities took power in Syria in 2024. Natour was originally an active member of PIJ, co-founding the organization in 1981 to resist Israeli occupation. However, he was repeatedly deported from Gaza to Egypt, Greece, and Algeria before settling in Syria in 1992.

He ceased political and military activities in 1995 due to his belief that Iran was using the group to pressure Israel rather than support the Palestinian cause. In 2011, Natour began hiding opposition activists in his Damascus home, but fled the Yarmouk camp in 2012 when security forces besieged it. His family emphasizes that his deportation would set a dangerous precedent for others facing potential deportation due to their Syrian residency status.