Local sources reported the killing of a Kurdish youth, Jalal Ahmad Barakat—known by the alias “Hassan,” 25 years old and originally from the village of Bayandur, east of Qamishli city. This occurred hours after his disappearance following his detention by a security patrol belonging to the Public Security apparatus of the temporary authority in the town of Tel Kochar / Al-Yaarubiyah in northeastern Syria, which fell out of the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in January 2026.
According to consistent accounts from local sources, security personnel raided the young man’s house on Wednesday night and took him to an undisclosed location, informing his family that he would undergo interrogation and be released later. However, all contact with him was severed from the moment of his arrest, amid a total absence of official information regarding his place of detention or legal status.
The sources added that the personnel who carried out the raid instructed the victim’s father to visit the security center to inquire about his son’s fate. However, personnel present at the center subsequently denied any involvement in the detention or the raid, raising grave concerns within his family that he had been subjected to enforced disappearance.
On the evening of Friday, May 15, 2026, the young man’s family received information indicating that his body had been found in an agricultural area near the village of Dardara in the countryside of Tel Kochar/Al-Yaarubiyah—the area where he had been working in agriculture for years and residing for a long time.
According to the same sources, the preliminary examination of the body revealed that the victim had sustained gunshot wounds, with clear signs of torture visible on his body. This raises serious concerns that he was subjected to torture and ill-treatment during his period of detention prior to his killing.
This incident highlights the growing concerns regarding violations associated with arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance in areas under the control of the transitional authority, amid local and human rights demands to launch an independent and transparent investigation to uncover the circumstances surrounding the killing of Jalal Ahmad Barakat, and to hold those responsible for his detention, torture, and killing accountable.
