Syrian authorities have launched an investigation into a woman identified only by the initials A.Y. in Aleppo after receiving complaints about a video circulating online that allegedly showed her performing an act of sorcery or witchcraft, the Internal Security Forces in the Syrian Arab Republic announced on Monday.
The security forces announced that they were investigating what A.Y. had been doing in the viral clip “to take the necessary legal measures against her.”
“These measures come within the framework of efforts aimed at curbing fraudulent practices and the exploitation of citizens,” the forces insisted.
The circulating footage showed a woman, allegedly A.Y., burning an unidentified object on a stone before a crowd gathered to question her about what she was doing. The confrontation escalated, with members of the crowd putting out the fire and seemingly kicking the woman.
According to the independent Arabic site Al-Mashhad, A.Y. has already been placed under arrest.
Aleppo's Yezidi community have faced persecution for 'witchcraft'
Aleppo is a predominantly Sunni Muslim city, with a sizeable Christian population as well as a number of other ethno-religious communities, including a small Yezidi population. Though the faith of A.Y. has not been published, the Syrian state has not recognized the Yezidis as an independent religious group, and Yezidis have faced repeated persecution in Syria and Iraq over accusations of “devil worship” and “witchcraft.”
Notably, according to a 2023 report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s morality police, known as Hisba, killed, raped, and looted from members of religious minority groups in Deir al-Zor whom it accused of prostitution and witchcraft. The group also extorted zakat, or religious alms, from residents.
At the time, HTS was designated as a terrorist organization by the US and UK. Since now-Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s forces seized control of Syria in December 2024, however, both countries have removed HTS from their respective terrorist lists, while Washington and London have also provided significant sanctions relief to Syria.
In recent years, a number of women have been killed in Syria over allegations of witchcraft. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a woman was shot by gunmen last year over allegations of witchcraft in Nawa city in the western Daraa countryside, with a similar incident occurring in nearby Nahj a year prior.