According to Kurdistan Press, Azad Abdul Karim Othman and Mohammad Ala Saeed Ibrahim, who were captured during an attack by Turkish-backed forces in October 2019, when Horin Khalaf, the co-chair of the Syrian Future Party, was killed, were released after seven years and returned to the city of Qamishlo.

The two were released on July 17, 2026, within the framework of the prisoner exchange and release process resulting from the January 29 agreement.They returned to their homes in Qamishlo that evening and were welcomed by their families and a number of local officials, including Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and Sipan Hamo, deputy defense minister of the Syrian interim government.

In an interview with Hawar, Azad Osman explained how he was arrested and said that on October 12, 2019, when he and Muhammad Alaa Saeed Ibrahim were about to leave for Tabqa, they were stopped and arrested by armed men affiliated with Turkey in the Seluk area on the M4 road.

He said: “The armed men blocked our way with vehicles and military uniforms. At first, we thought they were American forces, because their vehicles had no markings. A few minutes after the arrest, we heard explosions and gunfire, and two days later they told us that Hurin Khalaf had been killed in the same place where we were arrested.»

Osman added that after his arrest, he and his companion were kept in a small, dark room and had no contact with the outside world for seven years. According to him, to pass the time, they only told each other about their childhood memories and the years of their lives, and no one was allowed to visit or talk to them.

He also said about the moment of his release: “We never believed that we would be free one day. Even when they told us that we would be freed after the agreement between the SDF and the Syrian interim government, we did not believe it. They transferred us to Aleppo and then handed us over to their own forces.”

Azad Osman continued to call for the release of all prisoners and detainees, saying that they should all return to their families and communities as soon as possible.

His personal story has also had a wide resonance. At the time of his arrest, Osman was a father of two children and his wife was also pregnant.Her third daughter was born a month after her captivity, and she has now been able to see her seven-year-old daughter for the first time in seven years. Horin Khalaf, co-chair of the Syrian Future Party, was killed on October 12, 2019, during a Turkish military operation and the Ahrar al-Sharqiya group in northern Syria, on the M4 highway near Suluk. At the same time, Azad Abdulkarim Othman and Muhammad Alaa Saeed Ibrahim, who were in her car, were captured and remained in custody until their release in July 2026.