Afrinpost – Special
Islamic militias affiliated with the Turkish occupation and the Muslim Brotherhood released a Kurdish young man from Afrin after a year and seven months spent in prisons of the occupying forces in the Kurdish autonomous province of Afrin.
The Afrinpost reporter in Raju district said that the young man, “Alan Kulkul” from the people of the district, was released after spending a year and seven months in the “Al-Raa’i prison”, while he was currently required to compulsory residence for a period of six months.
According to activists, most of the Afrin abductees are in “al-Ra`i prison”, and in June 2018, activists estimated the number of kidnapped people in that prison to be between 700 and 800, including about 50 women, amid mysterious circumstances that damaged their fate, and the absence of any significant judicial system.
Information showed the killings of some of the kidnappers as a result of torture, as the dead are buried under torture in a place near the prison without even the names being documented.
Between May and July 2018, Amnesty International interviewed 32 people, some of whom were still living in Afrin, while others fled to other countries or various areas in Syria.These individuals accused the Islamic militias, including “55th Division”, “Al-Shamiya Front”, “Failaq Al-Sham”, “Sultan Murad”, and “Ahrar al-Sharqiya”, of committing serious human rights violations.
Many residents and internally displaced persons, who were interviewed by Amnesty International, reported that gunmen arbitrarily arrested civilians, either with the aim of obtaining a ransom, or as a punishment for demanding restitution of their property, or on the basis of unfounded accusations of membership in the Democratic Union Party or People’s Protection Units.
Local sources have informed Amnesty International of at least 86 cases of arbitrary arrest, torture and enforced disappearance at the time.
