Sabri Mohammad Fakhri, a reporter for ARKTV, and a member of the regional committee for the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria; and Bawer Malla Ahmad, a reporter for Yekiti Media Website, and a member of the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria, both from Qamshli city in the northeastern suburbs of Hasaka governorate, were arrested by armed Syrian Democratic Forces personnel on February 5, 2022, in raids on their homes in al Qamshli city. They were both taken to an undisclosed location.
SNHR notes that no members of the detained men’s families were informed of their arrest, and they have been prevented from contacting their families. We fear they may be subjected to torture and go on to become forcibly disappeared, as is the case for 85% of detainees.
SNHR calls for financial and psychological restitution for the victims and their families, as well as an end to all arbitrary detention, and for the fate of hundreds of individuals forcibly disappeared by the Syrian Democratic Forces to be revealed. We note that these arrests are carried out with the objective of spreading fear and terror in the community and blackmailing the detainees’ families. We have additional, well-founded fears for the detainees’ wellbeing due to the spread of COVID-19.
