Shepherds Ibrahim al-Saleh, Talal al-Mohammad, and Ahmad al-Eidan, from al-Hratiya village, northern suburbs of Raqqa governorate, were arrested on November 7, 2022, by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) personnel while they were herding sheep in the badiya (desert area) around al-Hratiya village. They were taken to an undisclosed location.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights notes that the detainees’ families have not been informed of their detention, with the authorities confiscating their phones and preventing them from contacting their families. We are concerned that they may be subjected to torture in detention and may go on to be classified as forcibly disappeared, with 85% of all those detained falling into this category.
We call for the provision of material and moral reparations for the victims and 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 for revealing the fate of the thousands of persons forcibly disappeared by SDF.
