A 20-year-old man identified as Emad Jamal al-Hassan, from al-Serb neighborhood in northern Manbij city, located in the eastern suburbs of Aleppo governorate, was arrested on May 9, 2023, by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) personnel in the public square in the city center while he was on his way to work . He was taken to an undisclosed location.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that Emad’s phone was seized following his arrest, and he has not been allowed to contact his family. SNHR is concerned that he may be subjected to torture in detention and may go on to become yet another forced disappearance cases, with 85% of all those detained in Syria 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 for revealing the fate of thousands of forcibly disappeared persons by the SDF.
