Syriac-Assyrian Journalist Khlapieel Arrested and Detained by Kurdish Asayish security forces

When returning from a trip to Northeast Syria, journalist William Bnyameen Adam, was arrested by Kurdish Asayish security forces when he wanted to cross the border from Syria to Iraq. According to the Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ), “Asayish security forces arrested Bnyameen at a checkpoint run by the Kurdish Army, also known as peshmerga, on the outskirts of the northwestern Iraqi city of Zakho, on October 31, 2019, according to the Assyrian rights group, Assyrian Policy Institute, the Iraqi press freedom group Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq, and Bnyameen, who shared an account of his detention with CPJ via email a day after his release”.

William Bnyameen Adam was detained for almost two weeks on charges of illegally entering the Kurdish Region in Iraq. Bnyameen, an Iraqi citizen, had no legal visa documents and permission to re-enter Iraq and used illegal routes and means to get back into the country. Inquiry by Syriac Press confirms the illegal entry of Bnyameen into Iraq but also understood from its sources that Bnyameen was the only one arrested of the group he illegally travelled back to Iraq with. The exact reason for his arrest hard to ascertain.

William Bnyameen Adam, working under the journalist name of Khlapieel, travelled to Syria to report on the situation of Syriacs-Assyrians there. In Syria he visited several Syriac-Assyrian organizations, towns and villages, talked to many Syriac politicians, civilians and components of the SDF.

Photo: Khlapieel in Tel Tamer, Syria