A man from al Bseira city in the eastern suburbs of Deir Ez-Zour governorate, named as Ayham Abdul Aziz al Khalaf, was arrested by Syrian Democratic Forces during a raid on his home in the city on January 9, 2021, and taken to an undisclosed location.
SNHR notes that no member of Ayham’s family has been informed of the reason for his arrest or of his current whereabouts, with his phone being confiscated, preventing him from contacting his family. SNHR fears that he will be subjected to torture and ultimately classified as forcibly ‘disappeared’, like approximately 85 percent of all detained persons.
We confirm that about 3,398 Syrian citizens are still detained or forcibly disappeared in the SDF’s detention centers, constituting a grave threat to their wellbeing given the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
