Paris – A Statement Issued by the Syrian Network for Human Rights:
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) learned, through communicating with the Ibou family, that the Military Council’ intelligence service in Manbej city in the eastern suburbs of Aleppo governorate, which is affiliated with Syrian Democratic Forces, on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, detained eight members of the family from their home in Manbej city, namely: The father of Nedal Ibou, who is wanted by Syrian Democratic Forces, three of Nedal’s brothers, his wife and his three children, namely Mahmoud Nedal Ibou (aged 66 years), Rizan, Ahmad and Muhammad Ibou (24, 16, and 14 years old), Amirah Mutran (23 years old), and the children Mahmoud, Lazkin and Aryn Nedal Ibou, aged between 3 and 6 years, all of whom were taken to an undisclosed location. We believe that this detention aims to take Nedal’s family members as hostages to pressure Nedal into surrendering himself to Syrian Democratic Forces.
Syrian Democratic Forces have not only kidnapped these family members as hostages, but also arrested Nedal’s mother, Ms. Haifaa Hushou, aged 55, on Monday, March 1, 2021, for appearing in a video in which she demanded that Syrian Democratic Forces release her husband and her son’s family and disclose their fate. She was arrested solely for expressing her opinion, and also taken to an undisclosed location.