Forty-Eight Kurds appear in Court in Syria

According to Media Institute of West Kurdistan Society  and Syrian Committee for Human Rights – MAD, the following people have been referred to the military judge in al-Raqqa on 16 October 2010. They were arrested on 21 March 2010:

• Mohamed Ali Daooud
• Mohammed Sheikh Hosh Ali
• Haji Hoosho Ahmad
• Hamed Bozan Bozan
• Jarah Daooud Shekhu
• Saleh Mohammed Osman
• Khalil Khashman Sheikh Mohammed
• Mohiuddin Muslim Bozan
• Adel Khalil Bozan
• Kawas Ali Muslim
• Hassan Ahmad Habash
• Ayoub Khalil Khalli
• Abdul Kader Ali Shaaban
• Riad Ibrahim Khalil Sinjar
• Mustafa Ibrahim Ibo
• Maasum Mustafa Issa
• Hassan Abdi Mohammed
• Mohammed Ali Ahmed Hussein
• Iskander Mohammed Issa
• Jamaan Mohammed Issa
• Mustafa Mohamed Yassin
• Ibrahim Kawas Muslim
• Ahmed Mesho Ali
• Sabri Muhammad Nebi
• Mustafa Ahmed Hussein
• Mazloum Mohamed Othman
• Adnan Ramadan Amin
• Ramadan Mohamed Amin
• Mustafa Ali Nassan
• Abdulkadir Mahmoud Sheikh Othman
• Ibrahim Abed Hussein
• Sadiq Ibrahim Ibo
• Ali Nebo Mustafa
• Luqman Mustapha Nassan
• Mohamed Atallah Issa
• Ibrahim Mamet Mahmoud
• Mohammed Hamoud Muslim
• Nazmi Mohamed Mohamed
• Ahmed Atto Shekho Maho
• Abdul Karim Ali Mustafa
• Badrakhan Ali Derreqi
• Ramadan Bozan Bozan
• Abousr Muslim Abousr
• Khalil Osman Shekhp
• Abdel Fattah Ahmed Temer
• Muhammad Haji Ahmad
• Taha Hasan Muslim
• Ezzeddine al-Abboud Read more

Trial of fifty Kurdish citizens is postponed and other detainees are released

According to Syrian Committee for Human Rights – MAD, the individual military judge in Aleppo decided to postpone the first trial of fifty people on 14 October 2010 until 11 November 2010, because some of the defendants were absent.

The statement from MAD states that these Kurds were arrested in November 2007,  and were released after six months of detention by the military prosecutor in Aleppo. The statement added that those people are now on trial on charges of inciting sectarian strife that would provoke conflict between elements of the nation. Read more

Young Shiraz Sabri Nebo was arrested as he entered Syria on returning from Turkey

Media Institute of Western Kurdistan Society reports that security services arrested young Shiraz Sabri Nebo on 26 September 2010 after he returned from Turkey. His family have been given no information regarding his whereabouts, nor the reason for his arrest. It is reported that Shiraz Sabri Nebo’s father and brother were arrested against the background of the events of Newroz in al-Raqqa, and they remain in detention.

Dozens of Kurdish detainees were arrested after the events of Newroz, and their whereabouts are not clear.  Some are detained in Adra prison, and others are in Fayhaa Branch of political security in Damascus. Their families are not allowed to visit to ensure that they are OK. Responsibility for this situation is on the shoulders of the Syria authorities, but the authorities are ignoring this conspiracy in al-Raqqa that has been orchestrated to target Kurdish citizens celebrating Newroz. Read more

Unknown fate of dozens of detainees from the Kobani area

Many Kurdish citizens living in Kobani and the nearby villages have disappeared since their arrests this year. Security agents make arrests but do not disclose their whereabouts.

Aziz Burkel Khalil, born 1962 in Kobani was arrested by the criminal security service on 14 February 2010. He has heart disease.

On the same day, Bozan Abdelkader Bozan, born 1958 in Kobani was arrested by the criminal security service and his family have not been given information about where he is being held. He previously suffered a stroke and bleeding in his brain.

Two other men were arrested on 8 May 2010:
Anwar Mustafa Mahmoud, born 1975 in the city of Kobani.  He was arrested by the Air Intelligence branch which is notorious for the brutal treatment of detainees.

Mahmoud Mohamed Kulja Nebo, born 1970 in Kobani was arrested by a joint patrol of the security services and his fate is still unknown since his arrest.

This pace of arrests and raids which has affected dozens of Kurds in their homelands serves to intimidate people, and to discourage them from demanding their legitimate rights.

Media Institute of West Kurdistan Society – Kobani

26 May 2010

Kurdish man and son arrested by security patrol in al-Raqqa, Syria

Haji Hushek was arrested when an armed security patrol raided his home in the Mill area of al-Raqqa on Sunday 9 May 2010. The patrol surrounded his home and cordoned it off before it was stormed by heavily armed officers, who raided his belongings without a warrant to either enter or search the property.

Haji Hushek and his son Mohammed Haji Hushek were taken to an unknown destination that has not yet been disclosed. There is heightened security in the Kurdish area of al-Raqqa, where the security patrols roam the streets bringing fear to the residents.

There were increased waves of arrests and intimidation of Kurdish citizens in April 2010, and there were reports of detainees being subjected to significant levels of torture, both of the wounded as well as those who were not previously injured, to extract ‘confessions’ from Kurds that will place responsibility on the Kurdish population for the massacre that was actually planned and carried out by the security forces in al-Raqqa.

Media Institute of West Kurdistan Society – al-Raqqa

13 May 2010

Ivan Lewis expresses the UK Government’s deep concern about Kurds in Syria

Ivan Lewis, Minister of State from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has responded to the news about the killings at the Newroz event al-Raqqa on 21 March 2010.  He expressed his deep concern to hear about the violence at the Newroz event this year.   He stated that the UK Government shares the concerns we have raised about the ill-treatment and discrimination faced by Syrian Kurds, and he agreed that this shows the significant deterioration of the situation facing Syria’s Kurdish population. He said that the UK Government has pressed Syria on this repeatedly and will continue to do so.

Ivan Lewis explained that he had personally raised human rights issues during his meeting with the Syria Foreign Minister Muallam in August 2009, and that David Miliband – the UK Foreign Secretary – has spoken out in Parliament on this issue:

“The UK is particularly concerned with the deterioration in the situation …. for Syria’s Kurdish population”.

He stated that human rights remain an important strand of the UK’s bi-lateral and EU relations with the Syrian Government. He drew attention to the report in the UK FCO report at http://centralcontent.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/human-rights-reports/human-rights-report-2009 which highlights the UK concerns about Syria.

We at International Support Kurds in Syria Association – SKS, thank Ivan Lewis for his response, and for confirming the UK Government’s position.

6 May 2010

Wide campaign of arrests against Kurds in the Kobani area, following the shootings at al-Raqqa.

People living in Kobani and the surrounding villages have seen an unprecedented escalation of arrests and raids during the past three months. Many have been arrested and are still unaccounted for, having  not been charges with any offences to date.

Two months ago, nine people were arrested. It is not clear why these arrests have taken place, or where the detainees are being held:

• Luqman Mustafa Nassan
• Khalil Osman Shekho
• Jarah Dahowd Shekho
• Saleh Mohammed Busan
• Muhammad Ali Haj Afdo
• Adel Khalil Karao
• Ali Mostafa
• Darwish Abdul Kader
• Anwar Musteh, born 1974

On 5 March 2010, the political security in Kobani arrested Bosan Bosan Abdul Kader and Wahid Abdul Yusef for a few hours.  They were then released, but were re-arrested a few hours later and transferred to Aleppo. Read more

Three people arrested and four teenagers from the city of al-Raqqa have been released.

Law enforcement personnel arrested three people after raiding homes in the middle of the night and early morning, in al-Raqqa, between 26 – 28 April 2010, adding to the numbers of Kurds already arrested, and to the intimidation of families, of children who watch their parents being being driven to detention facilities and of women.

The three arrested were:

• Muhammad Ali Koresh
• Yasser Musa
• Abdel-Qader Ali Saaed

Four teenagers who were arbitrarily arrested in relation to the Newroz celebration, were released on 30 April:

• Masum Mohammad Os’dik
• Kawa Othman Abdullah
• Khalil Mahmoud Khalil – he had been shot
• Ali Mohamed Isa – he had been  shot Read more

Human Rights organisations call for immediate enquiry into Newroz killings

Similar reports about the killings of Kurds at the Newroz celebration in al-Raqqa, Syria have been received from the following human rights organisations:

Kurdish Committee for Human Rights in Syria al-Rased

Kurdish organization for the defence of human rights and public freedoms in Syria – DAD

Human Rights Organization in Syria – MAF

SKS joins with these organisations to very strongly condemn the Syrian State, and to hold it accountable for the killing of Kurds in cold blood while they are celebrating their New Year.

We demand that those who were injured today be given appropriate treatment for their injuries and that they are released immediately.

These human rights organisations are demanding that the Syrian Government immediately orders an investigation into the events in al-Raqqa to be undertaken by a neutral authority.

[Update] The Alliance for Kurdish Rights joins this call: http://kurdishrights.org/2010/03/22/syrian-authorities-fire-at-kurds-celebrating-norouz-killing-3-and-injuring-over-40