Turkish Embassy rejects Archbishop Tutu’s letter calling for a negotiated settlment of the Kurdish question

Cape Town and the Chair of ‘The Elders’ (a group of former world leaders which aims to tackle some of the world’s most intractable problems) called on the Prime Minister of Turkey, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as the political head of Turkey, to use his office and his influence to bring a lasting end to the conflict in Turkey with regards to the Kurdish question.

The Archbishop complimented Mr. Erdogan and his government for the support given to the people of Palestine, saying “We regard your pronouncements as the right ones and a declaration that matters of conflicts between nations can be settled only through peaceful negotiated talks amongst apposing groups.” Read more

Where is my brother Tahseen Mammo?

Aiysha Mammo has asked International Support Kurds in Syria Association – SKS for assistance to discover the circumstances and whereabouts of her brother Tahseen Mammo who has disappeared in the Syrian prison system. Aiysha who lives in Germany said, ‘I would do anything to find my brother. I think about him every day, I miss him so much’.

Tahseen’s cousin, Yaseen Mammo has also expressed his deep concern about what may have happened, and spoke of how their lives had been affected by his disappearance.

Tahseen, born 1980 in Afrin is married with one son. He lives in Aleppo.  He was arrested with four other people at the end of January 2007 during a raid by a patrol of military security officers, and they were taken to the branch of military security in Aleppo, and then on to the Investigation Branch of the military security in Damascus. Read more

URGENT ACTION: Syrian Kurd tortured in custody (updated 18 Aug 2010)

‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf is being tortured or otherwise ill-treated, according to reliable sources. Every few weeks, they say, he is taken from Damascus Central prison in ‘Adra, northern Damascus, to a branch of State Security, where officers are trying to force him to “confess” to something which he maintains is not true.

An unknown number of other Kurds have been detained in connection with the same case, including three brothers, Munther, Nedal and Riad Ahmed, who are all being held in the same prison. According to exiled Syrian Kurdish activists, ‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf, the three Ahmed brothers and up to dozens of other Kurdish detainees are being held in connection with the investigation into the killing of two Syrian soldiers or intelligence officers in the north-eastern city of Qamishli in early 2008. Syrian Kurdish exiles maintain that the interrogators are trying to make ‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf “confess” to being the secretary of the political wing of an organisation which the Syrian authorities suspect may have been involved in the killings. The Kurdish sources all state that ‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf can have had no link to the killings as he has always strongly opposed violence in the struggle for greater respect for Kurdish rights. He has not yet had access to legal counsel, and has not been brought before a court. His family hired a lawyer for him, but the prison authorities would not let the lawyer meet with ‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf when he went to the prison. Read more

Kurdish farmers in Deyrik pressured to pledge not to reclaim their land from the Syrian State

Some Kurdish farmers have been forced to sign blank papers which will be used to stop them reclaiming their land when the license granted to them expires.

On 17 July 2010, Political Security branch in Deyrik forced some of the peasants from the village of Pastasous to sign papers accepting that when they have finished their licenses they no longer have the right to benefit from the land they have cultivated for decades, and that they return the land to the State, and will not to use or cultivate it again. Read more

Iran: Release and Provide Urgent Medical Care to Jailed Activist

Mohammad Sadigh Kaboudvand May Have Suffered Stroke; Family Claim He is Not Receiving Adequate Health Care – Human Rights Watch report

Kaboudvand needs an immediate and thorough assessment of his worsening condition. Denying a prisoner necessary medical care is both cruel and unlawful. Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) – The Iranian Judiciary should provide urgent medical care to Mohammad Sadigh Kaboudvand and free him from his unfair detention, Human Rights Watch said today. Kaboudvand, a leading advocate of Kurdish rights in Iran, is serving an 11-year sentence on politically motivated charges. He suffered what may have been a stroke on July 15, 2010, and his family says he is not getting the medical attention he needs. Read more

Act now to stop unfair prosecutions of children under Turkey’s anti-terror laws

Amnesty International has warned that draft legislative amendments scheduled to be discussed by the Parliament tomorrow, 20 July, would not, on their own, prevent violations of the rights of children.

“To end unfair prosecutions under anti-terrorism laws, the authorities must amend the definition of the crimes themselves, not only the ones under which children are sentenced,” said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s researcher on Turkey.

Amnesty International’s research has shown that children, some as young as 12, have been prosecuted under anti-terrorism laws in adult courts, in violation of present domestic law, in provinces where no Children’s Courts exist. Read more

Syrian security branches are detaining Kurdish students during the exam season

University examinations are finishing and the Syrian authorities have detained many Kurdish students, and are withholding information about their whereabouts and reasons for detention.

Abdullah Mohammed Mesko, born in 1987 in Kobani, is a student in his last year of study in the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the Beirut Arab University. Mesko was arrested by the joint security patrol headed by the area manager Abdul Jawad Jenaidee, on 12 February 2010 and was removed immediately to Aleppo by a detachment of Political Security in Kobani. Until this time, there is no information concerning the location and the reasons for his arrest.

Mesko and other Kurdish students were detained by Syrian security authorities and there is no information about many of them. Read more

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 ] Read more

The Kurds of Syria always getting a raw deal

Anatolian news agency publishes disinformation for international press, relating to detention of Kurds in Syria

We have reported the arrest and detention of many Kurds in Syria since the shootings at the Newroz celebrations in al-Raqqa, Syria on 20 March 2010. Approximately 100 people have been detained recently and this brings the total number of supporters of the political organisation PYD who have been detained to over 400.

News of the number of arrests reaching 400 was released by Quds Press – International News Agency, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on 26 June 2010.

This information was not picked up by news agencies until today when a distorted version of events was reported by the Turkish Anatolian news agency in an article that claimed that 400 Kurdish PKK members had been arrested, and others killed during street clashes: http://www.aa.com.tr/en/syria-detains-400-people-in-operations-against-terrorist-pkk.html Read more

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