Kurdish women in detention in Syria

The fascist attitude of the Syrian Government towards Kurds has not stopped since the shootings during Newroz at al-Raqqa in March 2010. There are raids in people’s homes in the early hours of the morning that sow the seeds of fear and terror, and the campaign of arbitrary arrests without explanation has been intensified.

Kurdish women did not escape. They are feeling the psychological stress of these practices by intelligence security forces, which fly in the face of human rights.  Many women were arrested before these events at al-Raqqa, and they remain in prison with an unknown fate. Read more

Kurds under pressure from increase in arrests in Kobani, Syria

The fate of the Kurdish citizen Mustafa Mohammad Ali Khalaf, born 1968 in Kobani has been unknown since his arrest on 3 May 2010 by the Political Security branch in Kobani, during a raid on his house in the middle of the night. The security patrol searched his home and interfered with his personal property, and then took him to an unknown destination.

Mustafa is married and has seven children, and he is the sole breadwinner for his family.

In a related development Subhy Osman Berkul, born in 1965 in Kobani was arrested by Political security branch on 14 February 2010.  He was arrested while returning from work at night to his home. No-one has been able to communicate with him since his arrest, and there is no information about the reason for arrest, nor of his whereabouts.
There has been a noticeable increase in the arrests of Kurds in the Kobani area

Media Institute of West Kurdistan Society – Kobani

17 June 2010

Spanish campaign raises awareness of Kurdish political prisoners in Syria

In late January of this year a letter addressed to the President of the Government of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, was registered at the Moncloa Palace, the official seat of the Ministry of the Presidency. The letter outlined the plight of Kurdish political prisoners in Syria and asked for Spain’s assistance.

…we respectfully request your intervention with the Syrian government, with whom the Spanish government has excellent political relations, to recognise the state in which political prisoners in Syrian jails find themselves, and to request the release of all prisoners of conscience, seeking especially to investigate reports of torture and ill-treatment and, in its relations with the Syrian authorities, demand that international norms are respected in the treatment of prisoners. 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

Arrest of Mohamed Abdi Saadoun, member of the Political Committee of the Kurdish Azadi Party in Syria

Mohamed Abdi Saadoun, member of the Political Committee of the Kurdish Azadi Party in Syria, was called through the Education Department to go for questioning by the State Security department in Qamishli on Thursday, 20 May 2010.
He was born in 1960, and is a teacher in Deyrik. He is married with seven children. His whereabouts are unknown.

Read more

Home of Kurdish citizens raided in al-Raqqa

An armed security patrol raided the home of Mohammed Mesto in al-Raqqa on Tuesday 18 May 2010.  They searched his home but he was not there and so he avoided being arrested.  He is now in hiding, in fear of being arbitrarily detention as many others have been since the shooting at al-Raqqa during the celebrations of Newroz in March 2010.
Threats and arrests of many Kurds is causing fear in the area.  Those who have been arrested report being tortured to give false confessions, and people are afraid.

Media Institute of West Kurdistan Society –  al-Raqqa

21 May 2010

Arbitrary arrests among Kurdish college students in Syria

Kurdish Organization for Defending Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria – DAD, and Human Rights Organization in Syria – MAF report that a security services patrol arrested 2^nd year law student  Bhor Saleh Ahmed and two of his fellow students on 18 May 2010, after encircling their rented accommodation. The reason for their arrest is unknown.

A number of students at the University of Aleppo have been detained arbitrarily when they have been on a day out from university:

• Qaddar Jalal Kalash, 4^th year English language student
• Firas Abdul Aziz Rasho, 4^th year English language student
• Nawaf  Khalaf , 4^th year Arabic language student
• Abdullah Nazir Mohammed, 3rd year philosophy student
• Kaniwar Darwish, 4^th year philosophy student
• Yassin Abdul-Majid Mohammed, 4^th year philosophy student
• Heyvidar Mustafa, 3^rd year education student
• Sabah Abdul-Karim Ali, 2^nd year student from Deyrik studying at the Institute of Business Administration
• Zahid Hassan, a graduate in Fine Arts from Deyrik Read more

Kurdish media student arrested in Syria

Kurdish Organization for Defending Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria – DAD, and Human Rights Organization in Syria – MAF note with deep concern that Omar Osman Aleko, a 4^th year media student was arrested on the outskirts of Damascus in al-Assad villages, by a political security patrol on 8 March 2010.  His home was raided and his personal belongings were taken by the patrol in violation of the law. The patrol brought fear to local residents. Read more

Continued arrests of Kurdish college students in Syria

It has been reported by Kurdish Organization for Defending Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria – DAD, and Human Rights Organization in Syria – MAF, that Hussein Muslim Jarrad has been detained by a security service, however there is no information available about the reason for his arrest. He is a year 2 civil engineering student from Aleppo.

DAD and MAF strongly condemn Hussein Jarrad’s arrest, and we are deeply concerned about his fate. We call for these arbitrary arrests that take place outside the law to be stopped, as they are a flagrant violation of fundamental rights and freedoms that have been guaranteed by the permanent constitution of Syria in 1973, and also under the State of Emergency and Martial Law that has existed in Syria since 8 March1963. Read more

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

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