Mejdel Dahham Haj Qasim, born in 1975, a co-head of Khnaf Folklore Band, and a member of the Yekiti Kurdistan Party – Syria (PYKS), was arrested on May 9, 2024, at a checkpoint for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in his home city of Amouda in northern Hasaka governorate as he was leaving the office of the PYKS. He was then taken to an undisclosed location.
It should be noted that Mejdel is in need of medical attention and medication for his various ailments. His family fears for his health condition.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that Mejdel’s phone has been seized, and he has not been allowed to contact his family. We are concerned that he 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.
