Turkey-backed armed group abducts Kurdish lawyer in south Aleppo
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – An armed group affiliated with factions linked to the Ministry of Defense of the Syrian transitional government and backed by Turkey abducted a Kurdish lawyer and politician on Friday evening in the southern countryside of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Saturday.
Local sources said the gunmen raided Alaa al-Din Khaled’s home in the village of Tel Hasel in Safirah countryside, southeast of Aleppo, and took him to an unknown location without presenting an arrest warrant or clarifying the reasons for his detention, raising serious concerns among his family and residents of the area.
The Syrian National Democratic Alliance – a Kurdish-Arabic political party – strongly condemned the incident, describing it as an “abduction” and “arbitrary detention” that violates basic legal and human rights standards.
In a statement, the alliance said Khaled, a lawyer and peaceful political activist nearing 70 years old, was deprived of his liberty outside any judicial framework, constituting a grave breach of the right to personal freedom and the rule of law.
The alliance called for his immediate and unconditional release, disclosure of his place of detention, and unrestricted access to medical treatment.
The statement also urged the United Nations and international human rights mechanisms to intervene, warning that continued abductions and unlawful detentions undermine claims of building a state governed by law.