UN Committee against Torture – highlights
Members of the UN Committee against Torture met with representatives of human rights groups and organisations, on 3 and 4 May 2010 in Geneva to discuss the Syrian Government’s behaviour since signing up for the Convention against Torture in 2004. The Syrian Government sent its representatives to answer questions.
Newaf Khalil and Abdul-Baqi Assa’d attended as representatives of International Support Kurds in Syria Association – SKS. They listened to the evidence that was given by the Syrian Government and they had talks with UN Committee members and other human rights groups about the abuses of Kurds in Syria.
Our report can be found here: Read more
The suppression of the Kurdish people in Syria – List of names the Kurdish soldiers
In September 2009 the Kurdish organisation for human rights Austria has published its first annual report in German, including four documents that have been legislated and passed by Syria’s government. The report, as well as the four attached documents drastically reveals both quality and quantity of the suppression the Kurdish people have to suffer. Striking violations of basic human rights, persecution, mass murder and arbitrary police action are phenomena Kurdish politicians and human rights activists are subjected to on a daily basis.
The draconian punishment wielded out by the Baath regime against human rights activists, politicians, teachers and other socially active people demonstrates how little the regime cares about human rights and generally binding international agreements. In particular the deliberate assassination of Kurdish soldiers serving in the Syrian army has attracted our attention and we provide a list of names who have suffered this fate. Read more
Concluding observations of the UN Committee against Torture SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
Committee against Torture
Forty-fourth session
26 April – 14 May 2010
Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the convention
ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION
Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
1. The Committee against Torture considered the initial report of Syrian Arab Republic (CAT/C/SYR/1) at its 937th and 939th meetings (CAT/C/SR.937 and 939), held on 3 and 4 May 2010, and adopted, at its 951st meeting (CAT/C/SR.951), the following concluding observations.
A. Introduction
2. The Committee welcomes the submission of the initial report of Syria, which, while generally following the Committee’s guidelines for reporting, lacks statistical and practical information on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention and relevant domestic legislation. However, the Committee regrets that the report was submitted 5 years late which prevented the Committee from conducting an analysis of the implementation of the Convention in the State party following its ratification in 2004. Read more
KHRP Condemns Continued Bombardments in Kurdistan , Iraq
KHRP condemns the recent escalation of Turkish cross-border bombardments in northern Iraq . Sources in the region informed KHRP that at around 9:30pm on Monday 10 May, Howitzer munitions struck the village of Benistan in the ?eladize district of Kurdistan, Iraq , killing Hussein Rekani (27). It is also reported that his wife and two children are among those being treated for their injuries at Amediye State Hospital .
Kurdish PEN Centre regarding the execution of the patriot intellectuals of Kurdistan in Eastern part of our homeland
We at the Kurdish PEN Centre believe that the killing and execution of freedom loving intellectuals who follow a peaceful path to practice their rights is a horrific act very far from the principles of humanity.
According to the known international standards such acts can only be committed by totalitarian oppressive regimes.
The execution of five heroic Kurdish freedom loving individuals by the Iranian regime has caused another shock to the world’s public opinion.
Ferzad Kemanger was a teacher in villages of East Kurdistan, passionately teaching his community’s children how to read and write. His love to humanity was endless and without prejudice. Read more
Iran: Executed Dissidents ‘Tortured to Confess’
At Least 17 More Kurdish Prisoners at Risk of Imminent Execution
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“These hangings of four Kurdish prisoners are the latest example of the government’s unfair use of the death penalty against ethnic minority dissidents. The judiciary routinely accuses Kurdish dissidents, including civil society activists, of belonging to armed separatist groups and sentences them to death in an effort to crush dissent.”
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director
(New York) – Iranian authorities executed five prisoners, four of them ethnic Kurds, without warning their families, and have so far refused to release their bodies, Human Rights Watch said today. These executions follow convictions that appear to have relied on the use of torture. Read more
Letter in Honour of the Recently Executed
Imprisoned Student Activist Majid Tavakoli Writes Letter in Honour of the Recently Executed
HRANA - Student activist Majid Tavakoli who is detained in Evin prison has written a letter in honour of recently executed prisoners Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heydarian, and Farhad Vakili. Read more
Farzad Kamangar: In Memoriam
The butchers of our people have struck again. They murdered yet more, in order to silence our voices. But our voices are many, and they all sing from the same well of inspiration that has inspired hundreds of millions of humans who came before us: the desire for a better, more just life.
The piece below, Farzad Kamangar’s last letter from captivity before being murdered by the Islamic Republic’s butchers, is from Street Journalist (visit the link to read more about Farzad Kamangar).
Farzad Kamangar was a Kurdish teacher, arrested in August 2006 and sentenced to death in February 2008, after a trial that lasted five minutes, according to his lawyer. During his months of incarceration, he was exposed to extreme mental and physical torture which he described in a letter. Read some of his letters here … here … and here. Read more
‘Evidence of Syria’s renewed and strengthened commitment to human rights was the recent agreement reached with the European Union’
May 11, 2010 by sks
Filed under News, Support Kurds, Syria
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We want to bring to your attention a quote from the report of UN Convention against Torture, when they met with a delegation from Syria on 3 May 2010:
“Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui, Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations Office at Geneva, continuing with the presentation, said that evidence of Syria’s renewed and strengthened commitment to human rights was the recent agreement reached with the European Union, which had just been initialled, and which would not have been possible if not for the European Union’s admiration and firm belief that the level of human rights in Syria was satisfactory.” http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/%28httpNewsByYear_en%29/B0A8C96EEAF37FFAC125771800433F64?OpenDocument
The delegation from Syria offered the fact of their agreement with EU as proof that their human rights record is acceptable.
What will the Governments of EU change, so that they send a clear message that the treatment of Kurds by the Syrian authorities is unacceptable?
Third Kurdish conscript in 2010 to die in suspicious circumstances in Syria
The family of Khabat Hassan Aleko, born 1991 in Afrin, a Kurdish conscript, received his body on Thursday 6 May 2010. He was serving compulsory military service in the Syrian army in one of the border outposts, in the area of Albu Kamal on the Syrian border with Iraq.
Khabat Hassan Aleko had completed his army training four months ago, and was then sent to the border. His fellow soldiers who were with him during an exchange of fire said he was injured on the right and left sides of his chest, and on his hand. He suffered and died of his injuries. Read more
