The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Exclusive interview | Elderly woman from Afrin speaks to SOHR about the details of her kidnapping and violations she suffered in Ankara-backed factions’ prisons in Aleppo countryside

Aleppo Province – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: It is no longer a secret to anyone the daily violations committed by Ankara-backed factions with the consent of Turkish forces since they took full control of the city of Afrin and its surrounding areas in March 2018.

Some of these violations have been documented, while others have remained undocumented to date, due to the media blackout in Afrin, and some media outlets attempt to portray the image of life inside the city as a “utopia” since Turkish forces and proxy factions took control of the city.

However, life inside the city is worsening day by day, particularly the security situation and the daily violations committed against the remaining Kurdish civilians of Afrin.

An elderly woman called Zainab Mohammed from Afrin talked to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in an exclusive interview about the details of her kidnapping by members of the Turkish-backed Islamic movement Ahrar al-Sham from the al-Ashrafieh neighbourhood in Afrin in May 2018, nearly two months after Turkish control of Afrin.

She said, “I was kidnapped by a patrol of “Ahrar al-Sham” whose members were former neighbours of mine who blindfolded me and took me to the old Al-Saraya building, and then I was handed over to the Turkish intelligence, who took me to the Turkish city of Kilis in the middle of the night, where I was interrogated for a short period of time and then they sent me back to Syria and sent me to Al-Ra’i prison in Aleppo countryside.”

The lady added, “the prison is located underground and they put me in a very small room with more than 150 girls and women, mostly Kurds from Afrin. I was watching with my own eyes how they were taken to be tortured after insulting them using obscene words. Their hair is being cut after being tortured, most of them kidnapped or arrested for ‘working or dealing with Kurdish PYD and PKK parties’.

Some girls tried to commit suicide because of the horror of the violations they suffered and the diseases prevalent in the prison, where scabies is prevalent among the detainees. I was released 17 days after my kidnapping without clarifying the charge against me, and I was able to escape to the areas held by Kurdish forces in al-Shehba area in Aleppo countryside, after paying a sum of money.”

The testimony of the woman and the unfortunate events experienced during her detention are only a small part of the violations committed against civilians in the prisons of the Ankara-backed factions in the areas of “Peace Spring” and “Olive Branch”, which escape media coverage. The Syrian Observatory has documented and continues to document such violations, SOHR, therefore, renews its call for the international community and the Turkish government to exert pressure on proxy factions to stop the violations committed against the people of the areas under their, which are carried out with the consent of Turkish intelligence.