Families of detainees in Rojava await the release of their loved ones

Within the scope of the January 29 agreement, the number of prisoners released so far by the Syrian transitional Damascus government has been announced. As part of the negotiations conducted between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Damascus, it is expected that 200 more people will be released on Friday, April 10.

During the prisoner exchange process carried out throughout March, a total of 477 people regained their freedom:

– 59 people at the beginning of April,

– 100 people on March 10,

– 300 people on March 19; and 8 YPJ members a few hours later on the same day,

– 10 more people were released on March 25.

Behind all these figures, there are still hundreds of families waiting for news.

Waiting in a village of Amûdê

A family living in the village of Karakop Tehtani in Amûdê is one of the most striking examples of this waiting. For the family, who have lived in the same village for nearly 60 years, time and distance are now locked into a single point: news from 19-year-old Hasan Osman Maci.

Hasan was captured by the Syrian transitional Damascus government during intense clashes on the Raqqa–Hesekê road. Since that day, his family has left no door unknocked in order to learn his fate.

A phone call, a threat

Hasan’s mother, Leyla Abbas Mihyedin, describes what they experienced as follows: “A person called on the phone and spoke in Arabic, threatening to kill Hasan and saying ‘we will feed his flesh to the dogs.’ This threat made our months-long uncertainty even heavier.”

After a while, Hasan’s image appeared in videos from different prisons in Syria. The family has been watching the same video over and over for days. For them, these images bring both hope and pain. Hasan is alive, but he is still a prisoner.

‘Our only demand is the release of the prisoners’

Father Osman Hasan Maci is trying to make his voice heard by all authorities: “Since the day clashes began in Syria, I have not been able to sleep. I want this situation to change as soon as possible. My only wish is for my son and the hundreds of people held in prisons across Syria to be released as soon as possible. I hope my son will be among the group of prisoners to be released tomorrow. I want my son to return home.”