Syria: A statement about SRD arresting activists in Raqqa

As a violation of the basic human rights, and as a further step to undermine the basic and public freedoms; the SDF intelligence agency has arrested four civilian activists in Raqqa city in the northeast of Syria.

They are:

1. Jamal Mabrouk: born in 1985, arrested on 12. Feb.2020 in his village “Suaidia Kabeer”. Jamal Mabrouk is the coordinator of the Furat program. This is not the first time of arresting, as Jamal was arrested several months ago, and he has been released later on.
2. Nizar Al Okla: born in 1976. Arrested on 26. Feb. 2020 in Kasra village. Nizar is Chairman of the Board of “Sunna’a Almostakbal Team (Future Makers Team)”.
3. Ahmad Mousa Alhashloom: born in 1985 arrested on 29. Feb.2020 in Raqqa city. Ahmad is the Chairman of the Board of “Enmaa Alkaramah” (Growing up the Dignity) organization. This is not the first time of arresting, as Ahmad was arrested by SDF several months ago and he has been released later on.
4. Omar Khalaf Alkhamri: born 1978, arrested on 3. March. 2020. Omar is the Chairman of the Board of Ma’an Le Ajl Suria (Together for Syria)”. Omar suffering from a serious disease that compels him to take medicines regularly.

SDF and its affiliated bodies have regularly persisted narrowing on the organizations working in the civil affairs, by the frequent arresting their activists/workers and by the unjustified delaying of granting the work permits; in addition to the regular and systematic intervention in the civil organizations’ business through establishing a labors office that NGOs obligated to hire staff from it, which negatively impacted the work and the civil activities that Raqqa province hugely need to recover from the war effects.

We, the organizations that signed this statement, deeply worried about the practices carried out by SDF and its bodies like arresting the activists and workers in the civil affairs; in addition to that, the continuity of these practices will push further for more complications and more smoldering on the domestic level.

The SDF must do the following:

1. Explain and clarify the legal bases that the arresting and the detention measures based on; and publish it in very simple and understandable vocabularies for all the citizens, especially the detentions that include the civil activists
2. The arresting operation must be done by authorized forces based on a warrant issued from a judicial body.
3. The detainees must have the right of contacting their lawyers and relatives as quickly as possible. They must be informed of the reasons behind the arresting, and ensure that the right of the stand before the judge will be during a short period of time, and the charges must be pressed also in a short period of time after the arresting; otherwise, they have to be released immediately.

Finally, we are calling the organizations, domestic bodies, international bodies, and all the international supports for the SDF, including the US and coalition, to participate in exert pressers to stop all the human rights violations throughout the SDF controlled area in the northeast of Syria.

The signed organizations are:

1. Justice for the Life.
2. Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Researches.
3. Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression
4. Syrian for Truth and Justice.
5. Syrian Network for Human Rights.
6. The Day After.
7. The Syrian Campaign.
8. Urnammu for Justice and Human Rights.