Kurdish man and son arrested by security patrol in al-Raqqa, Syria

Haji Hushek was arrested when an armed security patrol raided his home in the Mill area of al-Raqqa on Sunday 9 May 2010. The patrol surrounded his home and cordoned it off before it was stormed by heavily armed officers, who raided his belongings without a warrant to either enter or search the property.

Haji Hushek and his son Mohammed Haji Hushek were taken to an unknown destination that has not yet been disclosed. There is heightened security in the Kurdish area of al-Raqqa, where the security patrols roam the streets bringing fear to the residents.

There were increased waves of arrests and intimidation of Kurdish citizens in April 2010, and there were reports of detainees being subjected to significant levels of torture, both of the wounded as well as those who were not previously injured, to extract ‘confessions’ from Kurds that will place responsibility on the Kurdish population for the massacre that was actually planned and carried out by the security forces in al-Raqqa.

Media Institute of West Kurdistan Society – al-Raqqa

13 May 2010