Internationalist journalist Eva Maria Michelmann and Ahmet Polad, a member of the Rojava Free Press Union (YRA), have not been heard from since 18 January 2026, during the attack on the city of Raqqa by armed forces affiliated with the Syrian Transitional Government. It has been stated by numerous sources that Eva Maria Michelmann and Ahmet Polad were in Raqqa at the time of the attacks on North and East Syria and were following and reporting on developments.
According to information held by YRA, journalist Eva Maria Michelmann, born in 1989, was working as a correspondent in Rojava and North and East Syria for the ETHA news agency and Özgür TV. Similarly, journalist Ahmet Polad had been working as a correspondent for ETHA and Özgür TV since 2016. Most recently, he was serving as an editor and writer for the website kurdistanazad.com, which was established in 2025.
It has been reported that on 18 January 2026, during the Syrian army’s attack on Raqqa, Michelmann and Polad took shelter together with civilians in a building belonging to the Autonomous Administration and were last seen there.
According to information reflected in the public domain, on 18 January, while the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were in contact and conducting negotiations with forces in the area for the evacuation of civilians, including the two journalists, who were under siege in Raqqa, electricity and internet services were cut off and contact was lost with the group that included the journalists. Following negotiations that lasted until late at night, an agreement was reached under which those in the building left in groups and reached the area controlled by SDF forces.
After Michelmann and Polad could not be contacted for an extended period, investigations led to some eyewitnesses from the group that reached Kobane. These eyewitnesses stated that Polad and Michelmann, who were among those leaving the besieged building, were placed in a separate vehicle by HTS forces and were not seen again after that moment.
Between 6 January, when HTS forces began attacks on Kurdish neighbourhoods in Aleppo, and 29 January, when an agreement was signed, hundreds of people in Rojava were reportedly killed by HTS and armed groups affiliated with the Turkish state, and many others remain missing.
As the Voice of Prisoners Platform (TSP), we demand that the whereabouts of journalists Eva Maria Michelmann and Ahmet Polad be immediately disclosed and that they be released.
Prisoners Voice Platform (TSP)
02.03.2026
