261 detentions by Turkish-backed groups documented in Syria’s Afrin
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Since early 2021, Turkish forces and Turkish-backed armed groups arrested 261 persons in Afrin, north Aleppo countryside, north Syria, a center for human rights said, on Tuesday.
A report by the Violations Documentation Center said that it documented the arrests of 226 named individuals, “while the actual number is more, especially since there are families who refused to mention names.”
“There are cases that we did not manage to reach, as cases of killing civilians under torture and other violations were followed up on and documented,” the report added.
The rates of violence, crime, arbitrary arrests, and kidnapping are increasing in the Afrin and all Turkish-occupied areas in north and northwest Syria, according to local and international human rights reports.
In May, the Violations Documentation Center (VDC) said that a 64-year-old woman from Afrin was tortured to death in a prison of an armed group in the city of al-Rai.
In January alone, the detention of 90 known individuals in Turkish-held areas in north Syria were documented, according to the VDC.
Since Turkey took control of Afrin and after its incursion in north Syria, 7,433 detentions were documented, of which 1,098 were tortured, 137 were murdered, and about 5,100 were released, while the fate of others remains unknown, according to the center.
Meanwhile, the number of those who were released after paying ransoms reached about 1,255, and those who were killed as a result of fighting, explosions, assassinations, and explosions of remnants of war reached about 2,391.