79 arrested in July in Turkish controlled areas of Northern Syria

79 arrested in July in Turkish controlled areas of Northern Syria
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Syrian civil rights defender Hevdesti Association said that in one month 79 people were detained with arbitrary reasons in three towns, and 66 of them are still unaccounted for

79 civilians were arrested last month in Northern Syria and families are unable to get news from 66 of them, civil rights defender Hevdesti said

Tell Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and Afrin, all controlled by Turkish forces and Turkish backed armed groups that form the Syrian National Army (SNA), saw a crackdown on human rights in July, where deprivation of liberty became a daily routine, according to Hevdesti.  

The civil rights group said 4 of the 79 people arrested were women, 13 of them were since released but 66 detainees were still unaccounted for. 

Turkey has occupied the Afrin region since March 2018 and Ras al-Ayn and Tell Abyad regions since October 2019.

“The majority of the detained persons were arbitrarily arrested. Causes and charges behind their arrest varied. Some were accused of dealing with the Autonomous Administration or formerly working in its institutions. Others were accused of trying to cross to Turkey illegally. Some others were arrested merely because they belong to the Kurdish community or to extort their families and get a ransom,” Hevdesti said in its report. 

In one case, Hevdesti Association claims to have documented that a young man was arrested in the Afrin countryside after he refused to abandon his house to an armed group to seize it.

Comprising rebel factions, the SNA reigns in the areas occupied by Turkish forces where several cases of Human rights violations have been reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human rights (SOHR) in the last three years. The execution of Kurdish local politician Hevrin Khalaf was protested worldwide and a square in the French city of Lyon was named after her. near Qamishli by the Syrian National Army. SOHR further reported that at least 9 civilians had been executed by the rebel troops.