Kurdish girl from Afrin returns to her family one year after kidnapping

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Kurdish girl believed to have been kidnapped and murdered by Turkish-backed groups in the Kurdish region of Afrin has reportedly returned home alive a year after her disappearance. 

Malik Nabi Khalil Juma'a (16) returned to her home several days ago, the local Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported. 

The outlet reported that Juma'a was kidnapped and taken to the Idlib province, where she lived with a married man. He later handed her over to a Turkish-backed group.

Juma'a was kidnapped in June 2020 in Afrin.

The same month, a girl's body rumored to be Juma'a was found in farmland near Qastal Jindo and Azaz 

16 year old Malak Jumaa was abducted by “Alhamzat Free Syrian Army Milita” in #Afrin. Today, her dead body was found at a farm with 3 bullets. Yet, these savages in the “Free Syrian Army” are still called "freedom fighters." Afrin was a refuge for women, now its a slaughterhouse pic.twitter.com/TCuug7WWRl

— Elham Ahmad (@ElhamAhmadSDC) June 7, 2020

Ilham Ahmad, President of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), said on June 7, 2020, that the body of Juma'a had been found. It had three bullets in it.  

However, at the time, her relatives were unable to confirm if it was their daughter's body.

After the news, on June 1, 2020, displaced people from Afrin protested in front of the UN office in Qamishli. They were protesting human rights violations perpetrated by Turkish-backed groups by women in Afrin. 

Since Turkey and its Syrian militia proxy forces invaded and occupied Afrin in early 2018, women there have fallen victim to various human rights violations, including rape, kidnappings, and forced marriages.

Last year, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria said that it is investigating reports that at least 49 Kurdish and Yezidi women were detained in Ras al-Ain and Afrin by Turkish-backed groups between November 2019 and July 2020. 

In May 2020, during clashes between rival Turkish-backed groups Hamza Division and Jaysh al-Islam in Afrin, a video went viral on social media. It showed how Jaysh al-Islam fighters discovered kidnapped women imprisoned in a detention center of the Hamza Division after the group had attacked the facility. 

Malik Nabi Khalil Juma'a was reportedly among them but was kidnapped again after.