‘Liberated Saydnaya’: Enforced disappearance and extortion in Syrian National Army prisons

PARIS — For a week after photojournalist Bakr al-Qassem was detained in northern Aleppo in late August, nobody was certain where he was being held. Arrested without a warrant or formal charges by Turkish-backed opposition Syrian National Army (SNA) military police, he was not allowed to contact his family or hire a lawyer. 

As days passed, conflicting information emerged about al-Qassem’s location. Activists initially circulated reports he was at the notorious Hawar Kilis prison on the border strip between northern Aleppo and Turkey. The facility, said to belong unofficially to Turkish intelligence, is guarded by the SNA’s Sultan Murad Division, which is accused of torturing detainees held inside. 

Only when al-Qassem was released without charge on September 2 was it revealed he was detained in another SNA prison, in the al-Rai area of northern Aleppo. 

While al-Qassem—who worked as a photographer with Agence France-Presse (AFP)—was freed, fellow journalist Karam Kalia remains forcibly disappeared in an SNA prison in northwestern Syria. He has been held for nearly three months, with no word about why he was arrested or where he is. 

What happened to al-Qassem and Kalia encapsulates the stories of many journalists and activists detained by Ankara-backed opposition factions in recent years. It has also reignited discussion of SNA prisons in northwestern Syria, particularly Hawar Kilis, the abuse of detainees and the question of Turkey’s role in all of it.

Searching for the disappeared

In mid-August, military police in northern Aleppo arrested activist Samer al-Hassan (a pseudonym). His family has since struggled to learn where he is being held, told at first he was in Jarablus, then Azaz. However, “the most accurate information is that he is in Hawar Kilis,” al-Hassan’s cousin, who lives in Germany, told Syria Direct on condition of anonymity out of fear for his relative’s safety. 

In the first days after al-Hassan’s arrest, his family tried to exert pressure on the military police through their clan. “They told us he was with the military police in Jarablus,” his cousin said. When his family tried to see him there, “the Jarablus branch said he was in Azaz.” In Azaz, an officer said their son was not there, but in Hawar Kilis, and “$10,000 must be paid for his release, or to reduce his punishment to a short period of less than six months in prison,” the cousin added. 

Al-Hassan’s family did not know what their son was accused of until an officer told them he was accused of people smuggling and dealing with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and “is wanted by Turkish intelligence,” his cousin said. The PKK—which Ankara considers synonymous with Kurdish armed forces in Syria—is designated as a terrorist organization by both Turkey and the Syrian regime. 

One week ago, military police in contact with al-Hassan’s family raised the price for his release from $10,000 to $15,000, his cousin said, denying there was any truth to the allegations against him. 

The true reason for al-Hassan’s arrest, his cousin believes, was “his stance opposing Turkey’s policy in the northern Aleppo countryside.” Al-Hassn also participated in the “Dignity Sit-in,” also known as the “July Uprising,” a movement launched by academics and activists over the summer in response to the killing of seven people and injury of 50 others during local protests against Turkish normalization with the Assad regime.  

Al-Hassan’s cousin does not know if he is truly wanted by Turkish intelligence, or if the SNA military police are responsible for “the violation,” given the “financial extortion” the family faces. 

To this day, al-Hassan’s family has not been able to visit him or confirm where he is being held. A few days ago, they hired a lawyer, who promised to “reduce the amount from $15,000 to $3,000,” his cousin said. 

‘Liberated Saydnaya’

For months, some northern Aleppo human rights actors and activists have begun to call the Hawar Kilis prison “the liberated Saydnaya,” likening it to the Saydnaya Military Prison north of the Syrian capital Damascus. That facility, described as a “human slaughterhouse” by international human rights researchers, is one of the largest and most brutal regime prisons. Thousands of detainees have been killed and tortured within its walls.

Turkish-backed factions began using Hawar Kilis “as a detention center” under the direct control of the Sultan Murad Division—commanded by Fahim Issa—in early 2019, Bassam al-Ahmad, the executive director of rights organization Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), told Syria Direct. 

Al-Ahmad estimated there are around 300 prisoners and forcibly disappeared people in Hawar Kilis, citing testimonies obtained from released detainees. Those inside face three main charges: opposing Turkish policy in Syria, dealing with or belonging to the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) or Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and belonging to the Islamic State (IS). 

Hassan al-Halabi’s (a pseudonym) brother spent nearly two years in Hawar Kilis, accused of belonging to IS, before being released in December 2023 after his case was referred to the judiciary and he was acquitted.

Al-Halabi’s family only learned his brother was in Hawar Kilis weeks after he was arrested in early 2022, hearing the news from released detainees. Knowing where he was “did not change anything for us, because we could not visit him or appoint a lawyer for him,” he said. 

His brother refuses to speak openly about what happened to him in the prison’s walls “for fear of being detained again,” al-Halabi said. However, pictures of his body taken one day after his release show signs of torture. Syria Direct reviewed the image but is not publishing it at the family’s request. 

Al-Halabi accused the Sultan Murad Division of torturing detainees at Hawar Kilis, saying “Turkish investigators are there, but the torture is done by the division.” 

This account is consistent with what al-Ahmad’s organization has learned from other detainees. “Interrogations are conducted by Turkish intelligence officers with translators,” he said. “There is widespread torture and mistreatment, and there are people who have spent several months there without being brought before a judge, who are considered to have been forcibly disappeared,” he added. 

“Al-shabah, blanco [suspension by the wrists from the ceiling], whipping, sexual assaults of male detainees, mistreatment and starvation are among the torture methods” used at Hawar Kilis, al-Ahmad said. 

Syria Direct contacted the Sultan Murad Division for a response to the accusations against it, but received no response by the time of publication. One military source from the faction claimed Hawar Kilis “is under absolute Turkish control” and that his division has no presence there. 

The prison is “completely outside the judiciary, so we, as lawyers, cannot do anything for the prisoners because no revolutionary institution has authority over it,” one Syrian lawyer living in the northern Aleppo countryside told Syria Direct, requesting anonymity for security reasons. 

Hawar Kilis “belongs to Turkish intelligence, and the Sultan Murad faction is just a tool in it,” the lawyer added. He echoed the testimony of other sources, saying most of those inside are charged with “belonging to IS or the SDF.” Additionally, “most Kurds who are caught attempting to cross from northwestern Syria to Turkey for migration to Europe are taken to the prison, and stay there for a period before being referred to the judiciary,” he added.

Extortion using Turkey as a threat

In mid-April 2023, SNA border guards arrested journalist Rizik al-Abi and his wife in the Bulbul area of Afrin shortly after they crossed into Syria from Turkey, intending to assess the feasibility of settling down there. 

Al-Abi and his wife were held for 16 days in “difficult” conditions at a former postal center converted into a border guard headquarters and unofficial detention facility. “People are put there after they are caught coming from or going to Turkey,” al-Abi said, after which their names and personal information is sent to Turkey “to check if they are wanted or not.” 

In the meantime, “the person remains in this place, with bad treatment,” al-Abi said. While he was detained, he met others who had been held for more than two months. 

The site is akin to a money “collection center,” al-Abi said. “The person in charge has made it a center to exploit and extort people.” Border guards “make a detainee believe he is wanted by Turkey and will be transferred to Turkish territory” but can “pay to be released and escape” before being handed over, he added. 

After al-Abi’s information was sent to Turkey, the latter responded that they should hold him until he and his wife would be transferred to Turkey, which is what happened. He was ultimately detained for nine months in Turkey, while authorities there released his wife immediately. 

While detained in the Bulbul area, al-Abi offered to pay $5,000 to be released, but was refused, despite the common practice of extorting other detainees in exchange for release. This was “because I was [actually] wanted by Turkey,” so the official could not bypass the Turks, while “those who are not wanted are extorted” and intimidated using Turkey as a threat, he said. 

The lawyer in northern Aleppo also pointed to many “cases of extortion by the military police against detainees” by convincing them they are “wanted by Turkish authorities.” “The Turkish stick was used” as an extortion threat, “and most of them got out after paying the money,” he said. 

“In the case of many detainees, the military police refuse to carry out judicial decisions on the grounds that [Turkish intelligence] prevented them or stopped the prisoner’s release despite the sentence running out, in order to extort the family,” the lawyer added. “It is not possible to detect when they are sincere and when they are lying, or to confirm whether there is an official request from Turkish intelligence preventing the detainee’s release.” 

“Even the military judiciary, at the highest level, has failed to implement judicial decisions,” the lawyer added. He cited a case of detainees he represented who were held by the military police “on charges of joining the SDF,” he said. Late last year, “the military court dropped the case because it was proven they were juveniles when the crime was committed,” but they have still “not been transferred to the juvenile court,” he added. “The military police claimed they could not transfer them until the Turkish intelligence agency signed off.” 

What is happening on Syrian territory “is unacceptable inside Turkey, because it is a state of law and cannot practice these violations there,” the lawyer said. Ankara evades responsibility for what is happening in Syria “before the Turkish judiciary and internationally,” he added. 

“There is no oversight of Hawar Kilis and other secret prisons,” he continued. “The signs of torture, and people who show signs of torture are hidden during visits by Turkish human rights organizations.”

This report was originally published in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson.