Three Kurdish men arrested for organising poetry festival in Syria

According to Kurdish Organization for Defending Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria – DAD, Human Rights Organization in Syria – MAF and Kurdish Committee for Human Rights in Syria – al-Rased, two Kurdish poets and the owner of a house have been arrested against the background of organising a poetry festival. They were brought before the individual military judge in Qamishli on 21 December 2010:

• Omar Abdi Ismail (poet).
• Abdul Samad Hussain Mahmoud (poet).
• Ahmed Fattah Ismail (homeowner). Read more

Four Kurds disappear after reporting to State Security in Qamishli

According to Kurdish Organization for Defending Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria – DAD, four citizens of Amuda were told to report to the State Security Branch in Qamishli city at 9.30am on Tuesday 14 September 2010. They have since not been seen, and no-one knows where they are, if there is a warrant for their arrests, or why they are being detained.

Those who have disappeared are:
1 – Luqman Hussein Ibrahim.

2 – Salah Saeed Sheikhmous.

3 – Abdul Ghafoor Hussein Hussein.

4 – Saad Furman al-Hassan. Read more

Activist from Sittar Women’s Federation arrested in Syria

According to Syrian Committee for Human Rights – MAD, Hediya Eli Yusef, born 1972, from Deyrik area,was arrested on 16 April 2010 by military security forces while she was visiting Hasse village in the Afrin area. She is an activist in the ‘Sittar’ Women’s Federation.

Syrian Committee for Human Rights – MAD condemns this illegal arrest without a court order and calls for her immediate release.

Syrian Committee for Human Rights – MAD [Afrin committee]17 April 2010

Open letter to MEPs etc. – Arrest of Kurdish MPs in Turkey

Open letter to all members of the European Parliament and the Parliaments of the EU countries

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As a member of parliament you will surely join us in condemning the fact that two freely elected Kurdish members of the Turkish Parliament with large majorities have been removed overnight from this institution, their party forbidden and ten likewise freely elected Kurdish mayors taken away in handcuffs. It will surely also shock you to hear that a kind of pogrom atmosphere is being stirred up against their Kurdish colleagues, among them the Party Chairperson, Ahmed Turk, with the result that even the tenancies on their apartments  in the capital of Ankara have been terminated. Read more