German journalist Eva Maria Mickelmann, who disappeared in northeastern Syria and was held in detention for months, was released on Friday from a prison in Damascus and returned to Berlin the same day. Her lawyer, Roland Meister, confirmed the release on Monday. German reports said she left Syria via Jordan, and her family met her at the airport in Amman before she traveled on to Berlin.
Mickelmann, 36, is originally from Cologne and had reported from Syria since 2022. Her brother said she had been kept in prolonged isolation and that her condition was “good considering the circumstances.” Meister said she was “as good as can be expected under the circumstances,” but warned that this did not amount to reassurance about the physical and psychological effects of the detention. Reports last week said she had undergone lengthy, including nighttime, interrogations and had lost significant weight.
Mickelmann worked with Kurdish Turkish journalist Ahmet Polat for the ETHA news agency, based in Istanbul, and for Özgür TV, which operates in several European cities. The Committee to Protect Journalists said they covered developments in Rojava in northeastern Syria and the struggle over Kurdish-held areas. The two were last seen on January 18 in Raqqa, during a takeover by Syrian government forces of a city that had been controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, the SDF. Witnesses said they left a building associated with Kurdish authorities with civilians fleeing the city, were separated from the crowd, and put into a Syrian government vehicle.
For months, their families received no official word on their fate. Only in April, after pressure from journalists and rights groups, did Syrian authorities confirm that Mickelmann was in custody. Germany’s Foreign Ministry then said it had gained consular access after “intensive efforts at high levels.” Damascus said the pair had been found during searches of a building it described as an SDF security headquarters, claimed they first said they were doing UN-related humanitarian work and then tried to flee arrest, and suggested they might be “foreign fighters” present illegally in Syria. No formal charges were announced.
Mickelmann’s brother, Antonius Mickelmann, said he felt “enormous relief” and thanked the solidarity shown toward both journalists and their families. He added, “Now it is time that Ahmet is also released.” Polat remains in detention, with his exact whereabouts still unclear. The CPJ said there is information he may be held in a detention facility in Aleppo. A former SDF fighter said he shared a cell with Polat, who was injured and received medical treatment but was last seen stable. Meister called for Polat’s immediate, unconditional release and demanded access for doctors, lawyers and family members. The case unfolded amid Syria’s unstable transition after Bashar al-Assad’s fall in December 2024 and renewed fighting in Raqqa between the new authorities and the SDF.
