DNA results show detainee released from Syria prisons is not missing Jordanian

DNA testing has shown that a man who was returned to Jordan after being held in Syrian prisons for almost four decades is not Jordanian Osama Al-Bataineh as authorities had thought.

The man had returned to the Al-Bataineh family yesterday, with authorities announcing that he had been held in Syrian prisons for 38 years, since 1989.

However, spokesman for the Public Security Directorate, Amer Al-Sartawi, said today that DNA tests confirmed that the detainee was not related to the Al-Bataineh family.

DNA results have proven a man thought to be Jordanian Osama Al-Bataineh and was returned to Jordan on 9 December 2024, is not related to the Al-Bataineh family

The family also confirmed that the laboratory had informed them that “the genetic examination between Mr. Bashir Hassan Al-Zahir Al-Bataineh and his family, on the one hand and one of the people released from Syrian prisons who was claimed to be their missing son Osama Bashir Al-Bataineh, on the other hand, showed that there is no biological kinship between the two parties.”

Bashir Al-Bataineh said his tribe will care for the released man until his family is identified in coordination with the authorities. He added that the search for the man’s family is ongoing.

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