PKK/YPG tortures anyone who opposes terror group — former Syrian detainee

The PKK/YPG tortures everyone who opposes the terror organisation, according to a former Syrian detainee.

Barry Abduluttif, an activist who worked in several cities under siege by the deposed Assad regime from 2011 and 2014, fled to Türkiye after his hometown of al Bab was occupied by the Daesh terror group.

Abduluttif returned to Syria in 2017 to meet activists opposing Assad and the PKK/YPG terror organisation.

He was stopped, however, at the entrance to the Qamishli district by members of the PKK/YPG. He was interrogated in a house and held captive by the terror group for about a month.

Abduluttif said that the PKK/YPG accused him of being a member of Daesh and a spy. After the interrogation, they blindfolded Abduluttif and put him into a vehicle.

Methods to avoid accusations

"They drove me around aimlessly for two hours, then took me to a vineyard house near what I believe was the Turkish border. Just as they were about to torture me, some friends who had previously invited me to the city intervened," he said.

Torture was narrowly avoided, he added.

"They have a specific method to avoid accusations of torturing detainees -- conduct interrogations first and then carry out torture in secluded vineyard houses."

This is done to maintain their reputation abroad and claim they do not torture in prisons, he said.

"During my time there, other detainees told me the same thing," said Abduluttif. "Most of them said they had endured severe torture outside the prison. They described brutal sessions lasting a week, 15-20 days, sometimes leading to death," he added.

'They torture Kurds, too'

Abduluttif said PKK/YPG terrorists used code names instead of real identities while torturing victims.

"They don’t just torture Arabs, they also torture Kurds who oppose them."

"After I was released, the Kurdish friends I met there told me they had also fled to Türkiye, Europe, and Erbil because of PKK/YPG," he said.

During interrogation, they kept asking him if he knew the Kurdish activists opposed to the PKK/YPG, Abduluttif stressed.

After being removed from the vineyard house, Abduluttif said he was blindfolded again and taken to a prison in Qamishli, where he was held for another 15 days.

He said he was not tortured during his detention but could hear the sounds of others being tortured.

"I have no idea why I was detained," said Abduluttif.

He described the prison as terrible with insufficient food.

"There was no water, and there was nowhere to bathe. Once, they took us outside and sprayed water on us as if we were animals. After 15 days, I was released," he said.