Syrian man 'tortured to death' by Turkish border police after trying to enter country

Syrian man 'tortured to death' by Turkish border police after trying to enter country
A young Syrian man has died after being tortured by Turkish border police after he illegally tried to cross into Turkey from Syria’s Idlib province.
2 min read
01 June, 2021
Turkish border guards have previously shot Syrian refugees trying to cross the heavily fortified border [Getty]

A young Syrian man died on Monday after being badly beaten by Turkish border police, who apprehended him as he tried to cross into Turkey from Syria's Idlib province, according to sources.

Local sources told The New Arab’s Arabic-language service that Hassan Mohammed Al-Fetian, a resident of the village of Mushayrifa near Salqin, died after "heavy torture" by Turkish border police, known as the Gendarma, after he tried to illegally cross into Turkey.

"Turkish border police dumped the young man near the Elani border crossing with Turkey, west of Salqin, and local people took him to the Salqin medical clinic, but he died of the wounds which resulted from the torture he was exposed to," the sources, which preferred to remain anonymous, said.

Last April, another young Syrian man was also tortured to death by Turkish border police after trying to illegally cross into Turkey.

Over the past two months, four people - a woman, a young man, an elderly man, and a child - have been shot dead by Turkish border police while trying to illegally cross into Turkey from Syria.

Another child was severely injured by police gunfire.

Nearly seven million Syrians have fled their country since the Syrian conflict began in 2011 following the brutal suppression of pro-democracy protests by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

A further six million are internally displaced, while over 500,000 people have been killed.

Turkey currently hosts a Syrian refugee population of over 3.5 million, but refugees in the country are subject to discrimination, racism, and arbitrary deportation.

In 2018, Human Rights Watch criticised Turkish border police for using "indiscriminate fire" against Syrian refugees trying to flee into Turkey, saying that refugees were "being forced back with bullets and abuse".