Turkey and its proxy forces in Syria have arrested and forcibly transferred dozens of Syrians to Turkey to face trial under the “most dubious and vaguest of charges,” Human Rights Watch said in a report on Wednesday. 

Turkish authorities and the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) detained at least 63 Arab and Kurdish Syrians between October and December 2019 in Ras al-Ain, the New York-based rights group said. The detainees were then transferred to Turkey and charged under the Turkish penal code, despite their alleged crimes taking place in Syria.

The charges include “undermining the unity and territorial integrity of the state, membership in a terrorist organization and murder.” In October, five of the 63 Syrians were sentenced to life in prison without parole, according to the report. The trials of the other defendants are ongoing and they remain in detention.

“Not only have these Syrians been illegally transferred to Turkey for abusive prosecutions, but in an extraordinarily cruel move, the courts have imposed the highest sentence possible in Turkey — life without parole,” said Michael Page, HRW's deputy Middle East director.