Call to UNHCR to relocate Faysal Chekry Ibrahim and his family to a place of safety

Faysal Chekry Ibrahim, born 10 February 1966 is Kurdish from the city of Qamishli in north-eastern Syria. He is ajanib, one of the stateless Syrian Kurds whose families were stripped of their citizenship under the special census conducted in the province of Hassaka in 1962.

He is a member of the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria, which is banned in the country. He was a member of an administrative body of the Kurdish Yekiti Party – Lebanon branch, and has been the representative of this Party in Lebanon since April 2009.

Faysal Chekry Ibrahim was arrested by state security forces in Syria in March 2004, against the backdrop of the killings that took place in the city of Qamishli. He was transferred to Hassaka where he remained in jail for about ten days. During this time he was tortured by security agents during their investigations when they used the so-called ‘wind carpet’, a method of torture well used by branches of the Syrian security, in addition to flogging, and ‘the tyre’, not to mention punching on the hand and legs. The agents pressured him to inform them about participants in the events; however he did not disclose any information. [see http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/Lebanese_Political_Detainees_in_Syria_Syria44.pdf ]

Two weeks after his release he was rearrested by the Air Intelligence in Qamishli, where he was detained for more than twenty days, with a repeat of the torture and beatings he suffered in the hands of State Security Branch and more.

Faysal was then transferred to Sednaya prison in Damascus where he remained for more than two months. The torture suffered by prisoners at Sednaya exceeds that dealt out in all branches of the security services. He was accused of raising the American flag in the Qamishli event of March 2004, and of burning a centre for silage in the city; however he did not accept these accusations.

Following his release, Faysal was repeatedly summoned by state security in Qamishli, to the extent that he could not cope anymore because it was very disruptive and he was prevented from working.  He has a big family, a wife and eight children. The security branch was asking him to work for them as an informer, and he has always refused.

All his avenues were blocked, and he was especially afraid of being arrested again, and so he decided to leave Syria, and went to Lebanon illegally. He and his family are stateless and so could not leave legally.  He went to Lebanon on 16 September 2006 and applied for asylum to the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees of the United Nations in their office in Beirut. He was granted refugee status by UNHCR and has a document to show that his case has been accepted.  He and his family have been waiting in Lebanon for resettlement in another country since that time.

The High Commissioner for Refugees sent his file to the United States of America, and on 15 September 2008, he and his family had a meeting at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. One month after the interview he was informed that no decision had been made, and since 15 October 2008 and until now he has not been informed of any decision regarding whether or not he would be accepted as a refugee in America. He is consistently told by UNHCR that he would have to wait for a decision.

The situation for Faysal and his family has deteriorated, particularly after the improvement in relations between Syria and Lebanon. He is especially afraid that the Lebanese government will return him and his family to Syria under the security agreements signed between the two, because he is there without status, in effect illegally. This would definitely lead to the arrest of the whole family because of the application to the UNHCR for asylum, in addition to his political activity, membership of the Kurdish Yekiti Party, and his leading role in this Party in Lebanon.

International Support Kurds in Syria Association – SKS is concerned that Faysal and his family have been waiting for more than a year and a half for a solution to their problem.  We understand that it is difficult to make arrangements for people to be relocated in another safe country,  but we share Faysal’s concern that they may be refouled by the Lebanese authorities to a dangerous situation, and urge UNHCR and any other authority in a position to assist to take action.  The family has been assessed as being in need of protection as refugees by UNHCR,  and these young children are passing their time without being able to put down any roots, to make longer-term friends or to plan a future.