A man, identified as 45-year-old Alaa Mohammad Ali from Hemar Bobna, administratively affiliated with Manbij city in eastern rural Aleppo governorate, was arrested on December 31, 2023, by personnel from the Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) Internal Security force at a checkpoint in Kabrja village, administratively affiliated with Manbij city. He was then taken to the SDF’s al-Maliya Prison in Manbij city.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that Alaa’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 another enforced disappearance case, 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 on the SDF to reveal the fate of thousands of people forcibly disappeared at its hands.
