Al-Raqqa- Western Kurdistan (Syrian): According to local new report Mahmoud Youssef Sheikh Mohammed was arrested on 13 June 2010 by a patrol from Syrian air force security in the city of al-Raqqa. His belongings were searched, and property that he uses for his work in recording weddings was seized.
The same air force branch arrested Mustafa Hosho Sheikh Ali on 4 June 2010, after his returning from the harvest. Four people from his family were arrested after the shootings in al-Raqqa at Newroz in March 2010, and their whereabouts are still unknown.
There is a continuing campaign of arrests and intimidation of Kurdish citizens by the Syrian authorities since the shootings at al-Raqqa in March 2010, in which Syrian military forces killed numbers of Kurdish civilians.