Kurdish family from Afrin jailed by Turkish-backed group in Azaz
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Kurdish woman from Afrin and her four children were detained for three months by a Turkish-backed armed group. Her husband has called for her release.
The Human Rights Organization in Afrin confirmed that Dicle Jamal Bakir and her four children were arrested in Turkey on grounds that they do not have residency cards and subsequently deported to Azaz in Syria.
Since then, Dicle and her children have allegedly been held by the Suqour al-Sham Brigade in Azaz.
Dicle's husband, Idris Musa, who moved to Europe and lives in Austria, is calling on humanitarian and legal organizations to put pressure on the Turkish government, the Syrian Interim Government (SIG), and armed groups, to release his wife and 4 children.
Several human right groups have documented numerous human right violations committed by Turkish-backed groups in northwest Syria.
The latest report by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, released in March, noted that Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) brigades and the SNA military police continue to conduct unwarranted arrests and detentions.
“Kurdish detainees were routinely questioned on their alleged ties to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units or SDF.”
“Many appeared to have been arrested while attempting to cross into Türkiye. Detainees were transferred between different SNA brigades, deprived of legal counsel and brought before military courts. Some of them were subsequently acquitted, but released only after a payment had been made to members of the SNA military police,” the report said.