Recently, we have reported on the new wave of repressions by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed militia, the People’s Defense Units (YPG), against the Kurdish National Council (KNC), its member parties and other oppositional organizations. As mentioned, not only have many offices been demolished and shut down, but additionally numerous persons have been abducted and imprisoned.
One of the persons afflicted, whose current whereabouts are unknown until today, is Sai’d Ahmad ‘Ali, born in 1978 in Dêrik [Al‑Malikiya] and married with three children. ‘Ali runs a small workshop in Dêrik and is not involved in any political activities nor is he a member of any political party. In spite of that, he has been abducted on March 18, 2017. According to his employees’ testimonies, they were noticing unusual agitation in front of the shop towards the evening of that day, and were feeling observed. When ‘Ali gave his employees a ride home after work, to the nearby village Wanik, they kept feeling chased by a pickup truck. When ‘Ali afterwards drove home, he was stopped by such a pickup truck shortly after having left the village Wanik. Inhabitants of the village reported that members of the PYD’s Anti Terror Forces (HAT) took ‘Ali along. His car remained at its place along the road.
When his relatives asked the YPG and the Asayish about ‘Ali’s whereabouts , they were told that they did not know anything about an imprisonment. The family, however, assumes a connection between his disappearance and the political activities of his brother, Khalid Ahmad ‘Ali. Khalid ‘Ali is a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party—Syria (PDK‑S) and chairman of the KNC’s representation in Kurdistan ‒ Iraq. Since he took on this position, he has repeatedly spoken out against the PYD’s repressive practices. He has organized demonstrations and press conferences, in which the PYD’s and YPG’s encroachments on the Syrian-Kurdish civil population have been broached. Khalid ‘Ali presumes that his brother is being detained solely to exert pressure on him to end his political engagement and to “silence him”.