Occupation forces have tortured a man to death. The victim was identified as Mislim Ehmed who had been abducted from his house in Jindires district of Afrin a week ago.

Ehmed’s body has been found near the Jindires brook.

Afrin has been under the occupation of the Turkish state and its mercenary allies for over two years now. The attacks of the Turkish state against Afrin began on 20 January 2018 and the invasion of the city was carried out on 18 March 2018. Since the invasion, war crimes have been systematically committed in the region. Almost every day, crimes such as the confiscation of property belonging to local people, kidnapping of civilians for ransom, torture or executions are carried out.

The occupation forces controlled by Ankara use the abductions to extort ransoms. This method has become a lucrative source of income. At least 500 cases of ransom handovers have been reported so far. Turkish-backed militias demand an equivalent of between 3,000 and 100,000 euros, depending on the ability of the victims' relatives to pay.

thousands of displaced people from other parts of Syria who had fled the disaster of war and destruction. Since the canton was occupied by Turkey and its Islamist proxies in March 2018, robbery, kidnappings and ransom have been the order of the day.

In a report published in late April, the Human Rights Organisation of Afrin documented at least 96 abductions in the months of March and April. According to this report, four of the abducted civilians were women. During the same period, four elderly people were executed by the occupation forces.

Last autumn, the UN Human Rights Council published a report on the situation in Syria, which also describes the devastating human rights situation in Afrin. The Council documented that the overall security conditions in Afrin and adjacent districts remained dire with armed factions having carved up the province into geographic zones of influence.

“As a result there is a general absence of rule of law and repeated incidents of kidnappings, torture, extortion and assassination. Victims were often of Kurdish origin as well as civilians perceived as being prosperous, including doctors, businessmen and merchants,” said the report.

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