BREAKING NEWS: Security service of the PYD abducts political representative of the Syrian opposition

On Monday, November 28, 2016, Hawas Khalil Sadoun was abducted from his parents’ house in al‑Maʿbada (Girkê Legê) by the Asayiș, the security service of the Democratic Union Party (PYD). Sadoun is a leading official of the Kurdish Reform Movement in Syria and the representative of the KNC in the Political Committee of the Syrian National Coalition of Revolution and Opposition Forces (Etilaf).
The day before the abduction he had entered Syria from Iraq in order to attend a party congress. An authorisation to enter the country had been issued by the PYD authorities prior to his entry. The related assurance that he would not have anything to fear was thus broken. At the moment, no details about the whereabouts of Hawas Khalil Sadoun are known.

 

Since mid-August, the number of arbitrary arrests of independent journalists as well as politicians and sympathisers of the KNC by the security services of the PYD continuously increased. The population in the mainly Kurdish inhabited territories repeatedly objected to these measures of political repression by peaceful protests and hunger strikes. Though, international support was absent, as the PYD is considered an indispensable partner against the IS – by the very same states which officially support Syrian opposition groups, including Etilaf.

 

The Kurdish National Council in Syria demands the immediate release of all political prisoners from PYD jails. Moreover, we call on the population living under PYD-control as well as on the international community to stop condoning this authoritarian regime. Instead, we ask everybody to rise up against the PYD in the same way we rose up against the Assad regime.
What the Syrian regime is trying in Aleppo with bombs, the PYD finishes in Northern Syria by abducting politicians of the KNC and Etilaf: The final suppression of the revolution which began more than five years ago in pursuit of freedom and democracy. Those who remain passive spectators today will be responsible for the establishment of a new dictatorship in Northern Syria tomorrow.

29 November 2016
Kurdish National Council in Syria (KNC) – Geneva Office

 

FOLLOWUP: Hawas Khalil Sadoun and Jadan ‘Ali were released on Tuesday, November 29, in the afternoon.