Syria: Arbitrary Detention of Leading Human Rights Activist
Defend International (DI) has been informed by reliable sources of the case of Mr. Abdul-Hafiz Abdul Al-Rahman, a leading human rights activist in Syria.
DI believes that he is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for his peaceful human right activities.
Name: Abdul-Hafiz Abdul Al.Rahman
Sex: Male
Age: 44
Authorities: Syrian
Category: Fear of torture or ill-treatment / incommunicado detention / prisoners of conscience
The case:
According to information received from Syria and United Kingdom, Mr. Abdul-Hafiz Abdul Al-Rahman, leading human rights activist in Syria, was arrested on March 2, 2010 at his home in the city of Aleppo. He was detained by Syrian Military Intelligence in the presence of his family and a colleague. Read more
London demonstration 17 April 2010 – Kurds and Arabs stand together with British people
Members of Amnesty International rallied human rights activists in many countries on Saturday 17 April 2010, to mark the 64th anniversary of the Syrian independence with protests about the imprisonment of human rights defenders. In London about 125 people gathered in front of the Syrian Embassy with pictures and pleas for the release of a cross-section of people who are suffering in detention in Syria for their beliefs. The following photos speak for themselves, and show a peaceful demonstration where Kurds and Arabs stood side by side with British people together in a common cause.
Ellis Brooks – the main co-ordinator of this London demonstration and member of Amnesty International – wrote a letter appealing for the release of these people that was signed by some of the people attending the demonstration and taken to the Embassy. No-one answered the door and so the letter was posted through the letterbox, with a request that it be handed to the Ambassador for passing on to the President of Syria.
Syria: Four Kurdish Yekiti Party members sentenced to 5 years in prison, one other person has disappeared
Harsh judgments of the Supreme State Security Court on four detainees from the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria
Three human rights organizations – the Kurdish Organization for Defending Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria – DAD, Human Rights Organization in Syria – MAF, and the Kurdish Committee for Human Rights – al-Rased report that on Sunday, 18 April 2010 the Supreme State Security Court in Damascus handed down sentences of five years each to:
• Nazmi Abdul Hannan Mohammed,
• Yasha Khaled Qadir
• Dilgesh Shamo Mamo
• Ahmed Khalil Darwish
who are accused of belonging to the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria, under Article (267) of the Penal Code that charges them with attempting to annex part of the territory of the State and attached it to a foreign country. 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
Fatima Ahmed Hawool, female Kurdish activist is arrested in Syria
Syrian Human Rights Committee – MAD reports that Ms. Fatima Ahmed Hawool, born in Khanah Sarreh village in the Deyrick area, in 1976, who is an active member of the Sittar Federation Women’s organisation was arrested on the evening of 12th March 2010 by a Political Security patrol, and her whereabouts remain unknown to date.
Syrian Human Rights Committee MAD – Qamishli on 5/4/2010
EUTCC Patron Leyla Zana Sentenced to Prison by Diyarbakir Court
Leyla Zana, a former MP who has gained internationally acknowledgment for her tireless political work for the Kurdish People, was Thursday April 8 sentenced to 3 years imprisonment, accused of being supportive to the PKK and its leader Mr. Abdullah Öcalan.
The court has claimed that Leyla Zana, in her speeches, has praised Abdullah Öcalan for his tireless work for the Kurdish causes and announced him as the Kurdish national leader. She should also have stated that if PM Erdogan intends to solve the Kurdish issue he should take Öcalan as the interlocutor and instead of travelling to Diyarbakir he should visit him in the Island of Imrali Prison. In another speech Leyla Zana should have expressed that the PKK and its jailed leader are “as important for the Kurdish people as the brain and the soul are for a human being.” Read more
Turkey: Leyla Zana Sentenced to 3 Years Imprisonment
Thursday, 08 April 2010
Northern Kurdistan- Diyarbakir: the final trail of the Kurdish female politician Leyla Zana was ended on Thursday morning. The Diyarbakir Court sentenced her to 3 years imprisonment for supporting the Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK).
In a speech, Leyla Zana had praised Abdullah Ocalan for his tireless work for the Kurdish causes and announced him as the Kurdish national leader. She also stated that if Erdogan is intending to solve the Kurdish issue he should take Ocalan as the interlocutor and instead of travelling to Diyarbakir he should visit Ocalan in his solitary confinement in the Island of Imrali Prison. Read more
Kurdish singer Rojda Senses was charged with one year and eight months imprisonment
In a court in Diyarbakir on 25 March 2010, the Kurdish singer Rojda Senses was charged with one year and eight months imprisonment for ‘conducting propaganda for a terrorist organisation’ in two separate concerts.
Rojda Senses testified in court in Istanbul on 11 February 2010. She has previously been invited to participate in a breakfast meeting by Prime Minister Erdogan within the framework of the democratic expansion. Even so, she now received her sentence from Diyarbakir’s Special Authority High Criminal Court of one year each for having performed the song ‘Heval Kamuran’ in a concert at the 9th Diyarbakir Culture and Art Festival, as well as in another concert. Read more
Berzani Karro is tortured and sentenced to imprisonment after being returned to Syria, from Cyprus
Syria Kurd Berzani Karro, who was tortured in custody, has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for “attempting to sever part of the Syrian territory and annex it to a foreign state.”
Berzani Karro was brought before a military court on 14 March, and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, immediately commuted to two-and-a-half years. He intends to appeal, though such appeals are rarely successful. Read more
UK Government is concerned for Kurds in Syria
United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office Annual Report on Human Rights 2009 – Syria
Syria’s human rights record continued to deteriorate in 2009. An Emergency Law, in place since 1963, continues to restrict the rights of Syrian citizens. This is based on the justification that Syria is still at war with Israel. We remain deeply concerned about arbitrary arrests, intimidation, torture, travel bans, lack of freedom of expression, and lack of respect for the rights of the Kurdish minority. Read more
