Calls to pressure Interim Govt to hand over bodies of martyrs, release prisoners

Today in the city of Kobani, The Council of Families of Martyrs, the Wounded, Prisoners, and the Missing delivered a statement read by its co-chair Mustafa Aito in Free Women’s Square, while participants raised banners reading: “We demand our martyrs and missing and the release of our prisoners” and “We want our children.”

The statement said: “The interim government, together with its armed factions, launched an attack on areas of the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria, starting from the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh and extending to other regions of North and East Syria, with direct military and security support from some regional powers, amid silence and complicity from certain international forces active in the Syrian file.”

The statement explained that the interim government had disregarded all agreements and commitments concluded between it and the Autonomous Administration.

It added that “the treacherous attack destroyed security and stability in the region and deepened divisions and rifts among the components of Syrian society through crimes and violations committed against the people of the region, including killings, mutilation of bodies, massacres, looting and theft, and killings based on cultural, political, and religious identity.”

The statement also pointed out that armed factions affiliated with the interim government continue to violate agreements and commit abuses even after the halt of military operations between them and the Syrian Democratic Forces. These violations include ongoing arbitrary arrests, failure to reveal the fate of the missing and detainees, and refusal to hand over the bodies of the martyrs; acts that constitute clear violations of international agreements and humanitarian and social norms.

The statement concluded with the families of martyrs, prisoners, and the missing demanding that the interim government reveal the fate of their sons and daughters. They also called on international and humanitarian organizations to intervene and pressure the government to clarify the fate of the missing, release prisoners, and hand over the bodies of the martyrs to their families.

A-H

ANHA