A man named as Eisa Muhammad al Khalil, from Nas Tal village which is administratively a part of Tal Abyad city in the northern suburbs of Raqqa governorate, was arrested in 2018 by Syrian Democratic Forces’ personnel. Since then, he has been classified as forcibly disappeared, with the SDF denying his arrest and preventing anyone, even a lawyer, from visiting him. On May 13, 2021, SDF personnel informed his family of his death in one of their detention centers in the governorate, without handing over his body to his family. SNHR data from numerous sources confirms that he was in good health at the time of his arrest, indicating that he probably died due to torture and lack of health care in a detention center.
SNHR can confirm that at least 3,784 Syrian citizens are still detained or forcibly disappeared in the SDF’s detention centers, constituting a grave threat to the detainees’ wellbeing, given the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
We note that approximately 61 Syrian citizens had died in SDF detention centers.
