Afrinpost
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) expressed its concern for the safety of Radwan Muhammad, who was kidnapped by the “Failaq Al-Sham” militia on charges of apostasy, due to his objection to the interference of its gunmen in the way to bury his wife, and called for his release.
According to the Global Christian Solidarity Organization, the Ahwal News website reported that Radwan Muhammad, an English language teacher and headmaster of the village of Chaqmaq Kabir / Raju, entered into conflict with the aforementioned militia twice, the first when his wife was not buried, who converted from Islam according to local Christian traditions. And the second time, when the militia demanded the evacuation of his school building to be used for Islamic militants training purposes.
Radwan told the gunmen, according to the site, “I will hand over the building to you in only one case: if Christ descends to earth again.”
The International Christian Solidarity Organization quoted Nihad Hassan, a pastor of a Kurdish church in Beirut, as saying that the aforementioned man is probably being held at the headquarters of the “Failaq Al-Sham” militia in Afrin, and faces the risk of execution.
“We are very concerned about Radwan’s life,” Hassan said, stressing that “these Islamic groups and their Turkish masters are following in the footsteps of (ISIS). In fact, many of their fighters are former members of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, ”, according to what was reported by “Ahwal”.
For his part, Mervin Thomas, CEO of Christian Solidarity International, said, “We are extremely concerned about Mr. Radwan’s situation and we urge his captors to release him immediately and unconditionally,” adding, “We also urge the Turkish authorities to intervene.”
Thomas stressed that Turkey must rein in the Islamic militias under its control, and “immediately end all forms of violence and human rights violations in the areas they control,” and called on Christian Solidarity International to put an end to the persecution of non-Muslims in the region.
The US Committee for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also expressed concern for Radwan’s safety, and called for his release.
“Additional evidence that conditions for religious freedom have radically changed in the areas occupied by Turkey, compared to what they were under the Autonomous Administration of northern and eastern Syria,” the commission’s commissioner, Nadine Mainza, said in a tweet on Twitter.
The Autonomous Administration, according to the committee, is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious project established by the majority of the Kurdish and Arab population in northern Syria, while ensuring the ethnic representation of the other.
