Beirut (Human Rights Watch): An autonomous de facto government in northeastern Syria is detaining members of a rival political coalition and violating their due process rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The Democratic Union Party-led Autonomous Administration has apparently detained members of the Kurdish National Council arbitrarily, and in some cases appears to have forcibly disappeared them.
Human Rights Watch spoke with two former detainees and the relatives of two others, one of whom is still disappeared, in person in al-Hasakeh governorate and by phone. All said the detainees were denied access to their families and lawyers. Some were never brought before a judge, and others were held for lengthy periods before being brought to court. Those interviewed said they believed that the arrests were based on the individuals’ political affiliation or opinion.
“The Autonomous Administration is apparently scooping up political rivals and throwing them in jail,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Depriving detainees of basic due process is a sign of an authoritarian government, not the rights respecting administration the Autonomous Administration holds itself out to be.”
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