Two high school students, identified as 18-year-old Saeed Kawa Kunrush and 17-year-old Saleh Jamil Bakkari, who are also members of the Khnaf Folklore Band, were arrested on May 9, 2024, by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) personnel on their way back from school in their home city of Amouda in northern Hasaka governorate. They were then taken to an undisclosed location.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that their phones have been seized, and they have not been allowed to contact their family. We are concerned that they may be subjected to torture in detention and may go on to become another enforced 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 on the SDF to reveal the fate of thousands of people forcibly disappeared at its hands.
