Northern Aleppo – North-Press Agency
Dejla Khalil
Muhammad Amin Semo was an eyewitness to the theft of everything from his town in Afrin region by armed opposition groups, which have gotten a green light from the Turkish
military. This resulted in Semo's arrest and his subsequent subjection to severe torture, the effects of which he is still suffering from.
In April 2018, Semo was arrested by the Turkish-affiliated Sultan Murad militia, as he saw the group’s militants when they were stealing and looting the furniture of his house in Bulbul district, 50 km north of Afrin.
After Turkish forces and their affiliated armed groups took control of Afrin, the region witnessed large-scale acts of theft and looting in addition to crimes against victims and eyewitnesses, which were documented by local and international human rights organizations. North-Press published news documenting the effects of theft and looting of the houses of the indigenous people of Afrin by Turkish forces and their affiliated armed groups.
Abduction of eyewitnesses
Semo, who was a farmer in his village, was taken to Marea Prison in the northern countryside of Aleppo, spending 18 months there, during which he was subjected to verbal and physical abuse and torture.
He cannot forget the torture that his body was subjected to, as the pain in his back and hands still bear witness to this: "Torture was brutal in Marea Prison, they were deliberately breaking prisoners' ribs, hands and feet with stones."
In a report published on January 16th, the Human Rights Organization in Afrin documented the killing of 54 persons in Afrin under torture by Turkish forces and their affiliated armed groups.
In an August 2018 report, Amnesty International indicated that Turkish forces unleashed Syrian armed groups to commit violations against civilians in Afrin, including arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, confiscation of properties, and looting.
Thieves and jailers
Semo said that the prison was just a counterpart to what he had seen outside, such as theft and arrest, and then torture for the purpose of demanding ransom. "The torture was aimed at forcing the detainees to pay money, and the arrests were indiscriminate,” he said.
The torture methods to which the prisoners were subjected left them with pain and tears in the muscles of the hands and his back: "My hands were almost paralyzed.”
Like other prisons under the control of Turkish forces and their affiliated armed groups, Marea Prison contains torture tools and methods of humiliating the detainees. It also includes rooms for women, "We used to hear the sounds of women being tortured, but we did not see them,” Semo assured.
Paying more and more
After spending a year and a half behind the bars of Marea Prison, Muhammad was forced to call his family and ask for money for his release. "I realized that if I did not pay them, they would not let me out,” Muhammad said.
In order to secure his release, he was forced to pay 4,000 Turkish liras (about $630) to the opposition groups in order to return to his hometown, where he faced an even more bitter reality than he had seen in prison, according to him.
When he got out of prison, the jailers themselves were running the area outside, as if everyone in Afrin was a prisoner. "Life in Afrin is not the same as it was before. If they insult you and harass the women, you have to keep silent in order to be able to keep living, or they will arrest you," Semo said.
Although he was released and escaped his torture, these practices spread to Afrin and all of its indigenous people, so he decided to leave into the northern countryside of Aleppo, where the displaced people of Afrin live, paying $265 to get out of the region.
The irony is that those who stole his village and imprisoned him – the militants of Sultan Murad militia – were the same ones who took him out of Afrin in exchange for the money he paid. "The same group arrested me and then took me out of Afrin." He stated.