The Syrian National Army arrested 18 civilians, including 14 women, in Rajo town which is administratively a part of Afrin city in the northern suburbs of Aleppo governorate on April 2, 2021, over their attempt to illegally cross the Turkish border, and took them to a detention center in the town.
SNHR notes that none of the detainees’ family members were informed of their arrests, with their phones being confiscated, preventing them from contacting their families. SNHR fears that they will be subjected to torture and ultimately classified as forcibly ‘disappeared’ like approximately 85 percent of the individuals detained in Syria.
SNHR notes that about 3,577 Syrian citizens are still detained or forcibly disappeared in the opposition’s detention centers, constituting a grave threat to their wellbeing given the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
