A 30–year-old woman identified as Ruzalin Abdou Ali, from Kherbet Shran village (administratively a part of Afrin city) in northern Aleppo governorate, was arrested on April 18, 2023, by members of the Syrian regime’s State Security service at a checkpoint at the northern entrance of Aleppo city, as she was travelling from Aleppo city to the al-Shahba area of northern Aleppo governorate, which is under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces. Ruzalin was taken to an undisclosed location.
The arrest was made without any court-issued legal warrant being presented. Ruzalin’s family was not informed of her arrest, while her phone was seized and she has not been allowed to contact her family or a lawyer.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) is concerned that she may be subjected to torture in detention and may go on to become yet another case of enforced disappearance, with 85 percent of all those detained falling into this category.
We call for the provision of both material and moral reparations for the victims of such detentions and for their families and call on all parties to put an end to all arbitrary detentions whose only purpose is to spread mass fear and extort people.
We also call on the Syrian regime to reveal reveal the fate of the thousands of persons forcibly disappeared by regime forces. We have serious concerns about their fate.
