On January 3, 2024, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) personnel arrested six members of the same family, all civilians, one of them a pharmacist, as they were leaving another relative’s house in their hometown of al-Hawayej town. They were then taken to an undisclosed location.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that the detainees’ phones were seized following their arrest, and they have not been allowed to contact their family.
SNHR is concerned that they 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.
