According to KurdPress, local sources in Afrin announced that a person named “Abdul Moneim”, the head of the economic institution of Raju district in Afrin, who is originally from the Maarat al-Numan region of Idlib, asked the owners of the lands to pay the equivalent of 35% of their harvested products in cash to this institution.

According to the Hawar News Agency, local sources in Afrin claimed that four families living in the village of Mamila were also demanded a similar amount and that these families were pressured and threatened.The sources added that the deadline for payment was Thursday, but the families said they could not afford the amount. They were also warned that if they did not pay, they would be transferred to a security center.

A resident of Raju confirmed this, saying that the land in question had been in his family’s possession for about 50 years and they were still farming it; however, they were asked to pay 35 percent of the produce of each plot of land.

So far, the authorities in Afrin have not commented on the report or the legal basis for the amount demanded.