Assayish forces deny torturing Syrian Kurd to death / Insulting Authority of PYD

ARA News – 12-5-2014 – Qamishli, Syria– The General Command of the Assayish forces in Efrin city released a statement on Thursday regarding the death of a prisoner at the Assayish detention center in Efrin, northweast of Syria, denying their involvement in his death. According to reports, Hanan Hamdosh, 35, was killed under torture by members of the Assayish after detaining him on the background of a traffic accident and for insulting the authority of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its security forces of the Assayish.

The Revolutionary Coordination Body of Azadi in Efrin had reported on its Facebook Page that Hamdosh was arrested by members of the Assayish forces on the 3rd of this May after he got into a quarrel with a person whose car was crashed by Hamdosh. As the members of the Assayish forces interfered to arrest Hamdosh, he started to call them (Assayish and PYD) names. On the 4th of May, the Assayish forces delivered Hamdosh to his family a dead body. Hamdosh had celebrated his wedding ceremony only one day before his detention by the security members of the Assayish of Efrin.

However, the statement of the General Command of the Assayish forces in Efrin reported that Hamdosh was arrested on basis of leaked information that “he was attacking owners of commercial shops in the city of Efrin and firing bullets randomly with a gun he possessed, beating passers-by and demanding them to pay him money or elsewise he will not let them go”. The statement further said: “The Assayish forces were compelled to arrest him and when he arrived to the detention center he was drunk and totally unconscious. He was behaving insanely and started to beat other prisoners.”

The Assayish statement assured no involvement of their forces in Hamdosh’s death, saying: “As he was kept in detention, he started to shout and to hit the wall and metal door of the detention room with his head which caused his death. He was taken to Afrin Hospital in Efrin city and the coroner’s report suggested that he died as a result of striking his head to the wall and the metal door and that his body contained strong narcotic substances.”

“A number of complaints had been made against Hamdosh by residents of Efrin city,  including members of his family due to his aggressive behaviour towards everybody. ” the Assayish leadership said. “Hamdosh had been previously convicted and was one of the most ferocious criminals in Efrin province. His criminal history record was full of crimes and spent convictions and had been kept in detention at the Assayish center for a couple of times for abusing citizens and forcing them to pay him amounts of money. He was released a few days before his death to attend his wedding ceremony after his relatives mediated for his release,” the statement read.

However, according to local activists, Hamdosh died under torture and his case is one of several others about people who were exposed to “arbitrary arrest and torture” by the PYD-led Assayish security forces.