Turkey issues unfair sentences including death against Kurds in Syria’s Afrin
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A Turkish court in the Turkish-occupied city of Afrin in the north of Aleppo, northern Syria, issued sentences, including death to some Kurds on charges of dealing with the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
The conditions or manner of trial of these people were unknown, and their families could not visit them or get a lawyer to defend them, Violations Documentation Center in Northern Syria (VDC-NSY) said.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the SDF defeated ISIS militarily there.
Turkey has been occupying Afrin and its countryside since March 2018, following a military operation called “Olive Branch” by the Turkish forces with the support of the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA).
Since then, the region has been witnessing trees’ cutting, arrests and killing incidents.
These areas, however, continue to witness a state of security chaos, accompanied by explosions and continuous fighting, amid the factions’ inability to maintain security.
Hussein Mustafa Hussein, 20, is from al-Mahmoudiya neighborhood of the city of Afrin. He was kidnapped on April 28, 2021. His family could not visit him or know where he was arrested until he was sentenced to death.
Youssef Mustafa Hussein was kidnapped in May 1, 2021 and sentenced to three years in prison under the same previous circumstances.
Mustafa bin Muhammad Hussein, 28, was kidnapped for the first time in 2019 and was released in March 2021 after he paid a ransom. However, he was kidnapped again after a week without knowing his fate until he was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Ezzaddin bin Youssef Mustafa, 17, was kidnapped on May 5, 2021 and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Zainab Muhammad Olashli, 27, Mustafa Hussein’s wife, was kidnapped on June 12, 2021 and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
During June 2022, the SNA arrested 80 civilians of Afrin, according to the VDC-NSY.
Since the beginning of the year, Afrin witnessed more than 433 arrests. This number is the documented one, whereas the actual number is more than this, especially that there are some detainees were not mentioned by their families, the organization noted.
The Turkish occupation of Afrin caused the displacement of about 300.000 of the original inhabitants of the Kurds of Afrin who have been taking shelter in 40 villages and five camps in Shahba region (Aleppo northern countryside) since then.
There are about 16.000 displaced families from Afrin distributed over 42 villages and towns in Shahba region, in addition to 1.870 families, comprising 7.500 individuals, now living in the camps of Barkhodan, Sardam, Afrin, al-Awda, and Shahba, according to the Social Affairs and Labor Board of the Afrin region, currently operating in Aleppo northern countryside.
The area has been militarily protected by Russian and Syrian government forces since 2018.