afrinpost-exclusive
Hawar Kilis Prison, located near the Syrian-Turkish border in the town of Azaz, northern Aleppo countryside, is a facility shrouded in secrecy and fear. Its conditions rival the notorious prisons of the former Syrian regime. The prison operates without any oversight from international or human rights organizations, leaving the true number of detainees, forcibly disappeared individuals, and deaths within its walls unknown.
One harrowing account comes from a young Kurdish woman, “L.A.,” who was arrested in June 2018 from her home in Afrin. She endured the darkest days of her life in this prison, where she was subjected to severe physical, psychological, and sexual torture.
The prison is directly overseen by Turkish intelligence, with personnel of Iraqi, Turkish, and Syrian origins conducting interrogations, often targeting Kurdish detainees. “L.A.” recounts being transferred to Hawar Kilis shortly after her arrest. She was confined in an underground solitary cell, where interrogations began immediately, conducted by individuals including a man of Iraqi origin and another fluent in both Turkish and Arabic.
“L.A.” faced relentless sexual torture for two years but refrained from sharing explicit details, stating only, “The sexual torture continued throughout my imprisonment.” She described horrifying methods such as gathering male and female detainees in a single interrogation room, where women were humiliated in front of men to force confessions. On some occasions, rape occurred in that room.
Physical torture was equally relentless, inflicted by guards of Syrian, Turkish, and Turkmen origin. Methods included daily beatings, nail removal, pouring boiling water on prisoners’ backs, electric shocks, and other brutal practices comparable to those reported in the prisons of the former Syrian regime.
Describing her experience, “L.A.” said, “Hawar Kilis is a horrific place. To this day, I cannot forget what happened there. Flashbacks of those terrible days haunt me constantly—all because I am Kurdish.” Despite extensive questioning, no charges were ever officially brought against her, apart from accusations of alleged connections to the Autonomous Administration.
After the interrogation period, “L.A.” was transferred to Marateh Prison in Afrin, where psychological abuse persisted through constant insults and humiliation. Sexual violence against female detainees continued unabated.
Human rights organizations have documented similar accounts of torture in detention facilities under Turkish control and its allied militias in Afrin, Azaz, al-Bab, and Jarabulus. Former detainees have likened the conditions to those in Sednaya Prison and Syrian security branches notorious for their cruelty under the former regime.
Last week, numerous organizations and activists called for urgent action to open these prisons, release detainees and forcibly disappeared individuals, and clarify the fate of those missing from the occupied Afrin region.
