Two men, identified as 33-year-old Mustafa Mohammad Bakr and 53-year-old Mohammad Mahmoud Suleiman, were arrested on January 23, 2024, by Syrian National Army (SNA) personnel who raided their homes in their home village of Kuleyan Tehtani, administratively affiliated with Afrin city in northwestern Aleppo governorate, over accusations of working with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). They were then taken to an undisclosed location.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that their phones were seized following their arrest, and they have not been allowed to contact their families.
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 all armed opposition factions/SNA to reveal the fate of thousands of people forcibly disappeared at its hands.