ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Three Yezidi women have been kidnapped over the last five weeks from the Kurdish-majority city of Afrin, which has seen a fresh wave of violations committed against the Yezidi minority group, sources confirmed to Rudaw.
Afrin came under control of Turkish forces and their Syrian militia proxies in early 2018 following two months of intense fighting with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Since then, human rights monitors have accused these groups of serious violations against locals.
Fearing reprisal from the Turkish-backed armed groups responsible for the kidnappings, the women’s families have refrained from sharing information, said Ali Iso, the head of the Ezdina Foundation, a human rights watchdog, to Rudaw English on Wednesday.
"There is no justification for the arrest of my sister,” said Hassan Dali Hassan, whose twenty-one year old sister Areen Dali Hassan was taken by the al-Hamzat Faction on February 27.
“The group that has taken her demands a ransom, a sum that we cannot afford to pay," he added.
Hassan, who now lives in Turkey, told Rudaw over Whatsapp on Wednesday that despite receiving ransom requests, the fate of his sister “remains unknown”.
"The person responsible for her [kidnapping] is called Abu Shaher, one of the leaders of the faction," Iso added.
The families of the kidnapped women say that shortly after the abductions they were told that the armed groups were “investigating” the women. They were never told on what grounds their loved ones had been taken for, added Iso.
"Now that a month has passed since their kidnappings, the families are afraid that their loved ones might have been killed, as the armed groups do not update them at all on their situation. Because of this, they have decided to start sharing information with the media and rights groups on the kidnappings," said Iso.
The Ezdina Foundation monitors and documents human rights violations committed against the Afrin indigenous populations, focusing largely on Yezidis. Although headquartered in Germany, the organization has monitors on the ground in Afrin relaying information to them.
Another armed group, whose identity has not yet been confirmed, kidnapped Ghazala Battal, 20, on March 5. Sources from her village of Burj Abdi told Iso that she is being held in a prison in the nearby town of Jandaris.
A third woman named Kuli Hassan, Battal's mother, was abducted by another leader of the al-Hazmat Faction named Abu Subhi on March 9, keeping her in a prison in their own village since then.
"The number of women arrested and kidnapped by armed groups in Afrin is much greater than what is disclosed," he said. "But many families are afraid to talk about their arrest for fear of reprisals from these extremist groups."
Turkey's Syrian proxies in Afrin have been accused of looting Kurdish homes and businesses, vandalizing Kurdish cultural landmarks, and resettling Arab families in vacant homes left by fleeing Kurdish families. According to UN estimates, upwards of 150,000 Kurds have been displaced.
Arbitrary arrests, kidnappings and exorbitant ransom demands also remain commonplace as judicial processes are largely a formality. Judicial structures in occupied Afrin are managed by Turkish-backed armed groups.
The Yezidi ethno-religious minority, who faced genocide in Iraq at the hands of the Islamic State group (ISIS), still face a double stigma in Afrin.
As Kurdish speakers, they are a target of Turkish-backed groups, while their non-Islamic faith has also made them vulnerable to aggression. Islamists among the Turkish-backed groups have pressured local Yezidis to convert to Islam.
"Our Yezidi people on a daily basis suffer oppression by the radical extremist armed groups as they come under a lot of pressure to abandon their properties," Iso added.
Before Afrin fell to Turkey and their Syrian proxies, the number of Yezidis in the area was as high as 35,000 people. However, the number has significantly dropped to about 5,000, as the majority have fled the area.
"Since the Afrin fall, 18 Yezidis have been killed by the radical groups including five women, five children and eight men," he added.
"The majority of the Yezidi refugees have been put in Shahba refugee camp. Others have either gone to Qamishli or the Kurdistan Region," he said.
Shahba Camp is located in Til Rafaat, north of Aleppo.
Reporting by Hussein Omer.