Afrinpost – Special
Afrinpost confirmed from its sources that the Kurdish young woman, “Valentina Abdo” was kidnapped throughout the past period, in the militia prison of “Al-Hamzeh Squad” located in the former headquarters of the Asayish forces in the center of the occupied Kurdish region of Afrin in northern Syria.
The sources indicated that “Valentina” was kept in the militia prison along with ten other women, who are (1- Lonjin Abdo 2- Rojin Abdo 3- Rukan Manla Muhammad 4- Roshin Amouni 5- Nazli Na’san 6- Nadia Suleiman 7- Istervan Abdo 8- Farida Hassan 9- Haifa Jassem 10- Newrouz Ahmed Bakr, 17 years old, from the village of Raja, of the “Mobata” district, who was released on the second of June.
Besides the Kurdish girls, the sources said, there were three young Kurds in the same kidnapping center. They are (1- Hamid Mustafa Mustafa / Mesteashoura Village, 2- Araz Abu Hassan / Sheikhurzeh Village, 3- Muhammad Adnan Kula / Kafr Ziteh Village).
How was Valentina kidnapped?
Initially, “Hosni Muhammad al-Sheikh, 25 years old” Valentina’s husband, was kidnapped from the first checkpoint of the Muslim Brotherhood’s militants in the village of Maryamin, more than two years ago, while he was returning with his wife and their two children to Afrin, after he was displaced from it during the Turkish invasion of the region.
Valentina was forced to live with her father-in-law in the town of Maidanky, who expelled her from the house while keeping the two children with him, and then she went to Afrin with the intention of staying with her relatives, but she was kidnapped in the city of Afrin. Later she managed after seven months of her disappearance to call her displaced people in the city of Tal Rifaat, and she mentioned at the time that she is in the town of Kafr Nabl, Idlib.
Eight months ago, there was no longer any contact between her and her family, and her fate is still unknown until today (except for her appearance among the kidnapped women in the leaked video from Al-Hamzeh Squad headquarters), knowing that before her kidnapping, she was visiting her husband in a prison in the occupied city of Izzaz, and she had tried hard to release him, However, she did not have the required ransom amount. Even her husband’s father also refused to give her the money necessary to receive promises from the militants to release him without paying a ransom. However, “Hosni” was released ten days after his wife Valentina was kidnapped.
How was the case exposed?
At the end of May, a militant of Al-Hamzeh militia threw a grenade at a shop belonging to a settler from Damascus countryside, against the backdrop of the latter’s refusal to give the gunman the goods he needed in debt, so the owner of the store asked for help from his settler relatives, and they clashed with the gunman and the patrol that accompanied him, which led to the killing of a settler and a child, caused the settlers in militias such as Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Islam to retaliate and take control of the headquarters of the “AlHamzeh” militia after clashes.
The settlers, upon entering Al-Hamzeh militia headquarters, recorded a video showing the presence of women who were transferred from the headquarters to the “Military Police” militia prison in the Commercial High School in Afrin.
On May 29th, the Syrian Observatory said that settlers from Damascus and its countryside issued a statement explaining the reasons that led to the clash with Al-Hamzeh militia, demanding that the leaders of the “Syrian National Army” militia and the Turks remove all the headquarters of the “Al-Hamzeh” militia from Afrin.
The settlers also demanded, at that time, to explain the reason “there are naked women in the detention centers of the Al-Hamzeh militia.” The statement confirmed the presence of dozens of women inside the prison.
A group of leaders of”Syrian National Army” spoke to a group of media outlets aiming to justify the crimes of the occupation, where they said that the kidnapees had been kidnapped on the pretext that they were dealing with the SDF, knowing that this argument is only an excuse to kidnap whomever they want from the people of Afrin, by charging them or placing weapons in their homes and claiming that they have found weapons in the homes, to justify their kidnapping and obtain ransom money from their families.
Later, the issue of the existence of these women was ignored in the statement of an agreement between the two sides (Al-Hamzeh militia and the settlers of Damascus countryside).
The gunmen, the game of cat and mouse ..
The correspondent of “Afrinpost” said on the second of last June, that the militia of the “Military Police” that had taken over the headquarters of the militia of the “Al-Hamzeh Squad” “which was the headquarters of the Asayish forces during the era of autonomous-administration”, intends to return the headquarters to the militia ” Al-Hamzeh squad “again, after sites loyal to the Turkish occupation confirmed, representatives of the“ Al-Hamzeh squad ”militia signed an agreement with the settlers from the countryside of Damascus, against the background of the killing of one of them by the militia’s gunmen, and the subsequent storming by armed settlers of the militia’s headquarters, which revealed the presence of kidnapped women in it.
On the thirty-first of May, the Afrinpost correspondent, quoting sources among the Turkish occupation militia, said that the “Al-Hamzeh Squad” militia transferred 26 kidnapees, from the “Military Police” militia prison, to a prison based in the town of Basuta, and they were handed over to a leader of the militia “Abdullah Halawa”.
Pointing out that the operation took place very easily, since most of the officials of the “Military Police” militia prison in the “Commercial High School” in the Afrin center, are affiliated with the “Al-Hamzeh Squad” militia, including (Abu Arab Hamzat, Abu Dia’ Hamzat, Abu Al-Fawz Hamzat, Abu Hussein Hamzat, and Abu Nader Hamzat).
Wide condemnation ..
In the context, the “Autonomous-Administration” of the occupied Kurdish region of Afrin in Al-Shahba, on the thirty-first of May, condemned the crimes and violations of the Turkish occupation and its Islamic militias affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood organization in Afrin and said that “an attempt to desecrate the sanctity of Afrin women is an erosion of Turkey’s reality and history The long-standing criminal in killing and humiliating peoples, as well as showing the brutality of militant factions.
The Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party in Syria and the Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria-Yekiti also issued a joint statement calling for the formation of an international commision of inquiry to look into violations and crimes committed by the Turkish occupation and the armed militias affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, who call themselves “Syrian National Army / Free Army”.
