SOHR calls for action against Turkish violations in occupied areas

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) called on the UN and the EU to exert pressure on the Turkish government which is occupying power to stop abuses against civilians.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that women from across Syria have been illegally arrested by Turkish-backed military police in a prison in Rajo district in the countryside of the Turkish occupied Afrin canton.

According to SOHR sources, the prison warden, Brigadier General “Jarrah Al-Dhabari,” practises all forms of extortion against detainees in prison, by collecting exorbitant profits from the detainees. Those under detention are forced to buy the basic needs of food and drink six times at higher price than their market prices. In addition, the bulk of the detainees have been arrested without charges or on flimsy charges, such as a charge of illegal immigration to Turkey in an escape from the woes of war.

The observatory noted that the prison officials demanded a ransom of 700 USD to1000 USD from the detainees who are arrested for several months to set them free, while those who are arrested for one day in prison must pay an amount of 1000 Turkish lire in exchange for their release.

Sources in the prison confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that the prison is split into two wings. The first wing is a dormitory in which at least 60 men are detained. The second wing is a separate dormitory from the men’s wing and hosts nearly 53 arrested women.

“Detainees in “Military Police” prison are suffering from dire humanitarian conditions as many of them are unable to buy food and drink at their personal expense and their relatives who come to visit them inside the prison are forced to pay 10 Turkish liras per minute of the visit, as well as being subjected to the most heinous forms of torture by a “Major Qusay,” who is from Al-Houla area in the northern countryside of Homs,” SOHR said.

SOHR called on the United Nations and the European Union to form a committee to monitor human rights in prisons across Syria to disclose the fate of tens of thousands of detainees, absentees forcibly disappeared people in prisons and to bring all those who have aided and abetted the killing and torturing of Syrian civilians to justice.

The Syrian Observatory also called for exerting pressure on the Turkish government as an occupying power and on its Syrian factions to stop violations against civilians in areas under their control, particularly Afrin and its countryside.