Afrinpost
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed today, Saturday, that it received a distress call from the owners of commercial stores, in which they complain that the militia of the “Sultan Murad Brigade” imposed taxes and royalties on the owners of the commercial stores located on the “Rajo” road in the center of the Afrin, after asking Store owners to prove ownership.
According to the distress that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reached, “The Sultan Murad Brigade, led by (M.B.) and two other elements, (A.F.) and (A.R.), imposes taxes ranging from 10 thousand to 100 thousand Syrian pounds, whether it is owned by its owner or tenant, amid threats to confiscate, vacate and rent the shop for their personal benefit, in case the amount imposed on the owners and tenants of the commercial stores is not paid.
Reliable sources told the observatory from inside Afrin, “The money is being collected on the pretext of providing protection to the shops, and people are forced to pay the imposed amount on a monthly basis.”
The tragic conditions in which the people of Afrin live, did not deter these militias to violate them, as reliable sources confirmed that “everyone knows that people are helpless, and most of them do not have enough money to his basic daily living needs, due to the deterioration of the Syrian pound and the crazy rise in the exchange rate of the dollar.” .
The shops owners appealed, through the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, of all human rights organizations and associations to intervene to highlight “the oppression, injustice, theft, and the imposition of royalties and taxes on the people of Afrin, and the aim is to displace the remaining indigenous Kurds.”
In a similar vein, the Afrinpost correspondent had said on the fifth of last April that gunmen from the “Third Legion” militia had started registering all the Ashrafieh neighborhood stores, asking for proof of ownership of the property, to impose new royalties in their favor.
