Barzan Hussein Layani, born in 1973, a media worker from Ma’bada town in northeastern Hasaka governorate, who’s employed by the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Syria (KDP-S), was arrested on August 15, 2023, by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in a raid on his workplace in the town. He was then taken to an undisclosed location.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that Barzan’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 forcibly disappeared person, 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 and 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 the fates of thousands of people forcibly disappeared at the hands of SDF to be revealed.
