Kurdish-Turkish journalist Ahmet Polad is under arrest in Turkey after being transferred in September 2026 from Syria where he had been held by Syrian authorities for nearly eight months following his arrest alongside German journalist Eva Maria Michelmann.
The pair, who worked for Istanbul-based socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA) and Özgür TV, which operates across several cities in Europe, were arrested on January 18, 2026 during the takeover by government forces of the northeastern city of Raqqa as part of an offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
After months of denying knowledge, authorities admitted holding Michelmann and Polad in custody.
Michelmann was released on June 19 after five months in Syrian detention and returned to Germany but Polad’s whereabouts were still unknown at the time.
On September 18, Polad’s lawyer, Özlem Gümüştaş, told CPJ that the journalist, whose birth name is Mehmet Nizam Aslan and who has also been identified in previous reports as Ahmed Polad, had been transferred to Turkey on September 8 and arrested by a court in Istanbul on September 11 despite being in very poor health.
Gümüştaş said he needed emergency medical treatment after months of abuse and was suffering from malnutrition and an infestation of lice.
She had not seen the Turkish arrest warrant and did not know what charges Polad faced as the case was classified.
Gümüştaş said her client was beaten daily by his Syrian captors, kept in a cell with such a low ceiling that it was impossible to stand up and not allowed outside. During his captivity Polad had never had any contact with Syrian officials, was not allowed to see a lawyer and was never presented to a Syrian court, she added.
She said she believed Polad was kept in the northwestern city of Aleppo until he was driven to the Syrian city of Idlib in early September and handed over to Turkish intelligence operatives on September 8.
Polad was then made to lie in the back of a car, handcuffed and with a bag over his head, and driven to the Turkish capital Ankara, the lawyer said. He was kept there for two days. ETHA also published details of Polad’s transfer and the alleged abuses he endured in Syria in an article on September 14, in which they quoted the journalist.
CPJ emailed Turkey’s Justice Ministry for comment but did not receive a reply. CPJ also contacted Syrian Ministry of Information official Omar Haj Ahmed, who said he was unaware of the transfer and would seek more information.
Case history
CPJ first reported the pair were missing in March, with Syrian authorities initially saying they had no information on their whereabouts.
They were last seen leaving a building affiliated with Kurdish authorities as civilians fled Raqqa.
In the weeks following their disappearance, there was no official acknowledgment of Polad’s detention. When reached for comment on March 10, Syrian Ministry of Information official Ahmed told CPJ the ministry had no information about the case.
After months of uncertainty, on April 27, CPJ reported that Polad was believed to be held in a Syrian detention facility. According to Roland Meister, Michelmann’s lawyer, and Avin Ibrahim of the Free Media Union in northeast Syria, there was information indicating he may be detained in Aleppo. A released SDF fighter reported sharing a cell with him, saying Polad had been injured, received medical treatment, and was last seen in stable condition.
On April 30, the Syrian Ministry of Information told CPJ that Michelmann and Polad were being held by the Interior Ministry, saying they were arrested during security sweeps of a building in Raqqa affiliated with the SDF after clashes in the area. The ministry said the two were identified as foreign nationals during the operation.
The ministry added that Michelmann did not have documentation showing she was on assignment and said both she and Polad attempted to escape while in custody.
In a September interview, Michelmann told CPJ that she and Polad had been reporting in Raqqa when they were detained and that authorities questioned them about alleged links to the SDF and Kurdish armed groups.
Michelmann said Polad was not injured when she last saw him shortly after their detention but said she later received information that he had sustained injuries while in custody.