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

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

Three more Kurdish students arrested

According to Media Institute of West Kurdistan Society, on 12 February 2010 Abdullah Mohammed Mesko was arrested.  He is a law student at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the Beirut Arab University, but he was arrested in Syria.

Intelligence security made arrests in al-Raqqa between 27 – 29 April 2010:

• the student Darwish Mohamed Misseh, a student in the Faculty of Education. He was arrested in his student accommodation.
• Ibrahim Mustafa, a student was also arrested in al-Raqqa after his home was raided and his family threatened if they did not surrender him.

These arrests, and those previously reported are evidence that there is a systematic attack on the Kurdish people underway by the Syrian authorities, that has intensified during April 2010.  Many people have been detained and subjected to torture during their detention, and this includes those who are wounded.

5 May 2010

Kurdish student arrested without a warrant, in Syria – computer confiscated

Hivraz Mohammed Amin Hassan, a Kurdish university student, was arrested by a patrol of military security officers who raided his house in Ramelan town, in Hassaka province on Monday 14 December 2009, according to the Kurdish organisation for the defence of human rights and general liberties in Syria – DAD. His computer equipment was confiscated, along with other personal belongings. They had no judicial warrant and this raid was illegal. There has been no information about him since the arrest.

DAD has also issued a statement condemning the detention of Hivraz Mohammed Amin Hassan, and the breaching of the fundamental rights that were enshrined in 1973, in the Syrian constitution. It also violates Syria’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified on 12 April 1969, which came into force on 23 March 1976, specifically articles 9, 14, 19, 21 and 22. They condemn the arbitrary arrests of |Kurds that are taking place under the State of Emergency.

DAD calls for the legitimisation of human rights organisations and political parties in Syria so that they can speak out about human rights abuses, and bring these matters to the public attention without fear of retribution.

More Kurdish students arrested in the Kurdish region of Syria – Oct/Nov 2009

We understand from reports that Kurdish student Rojhat Mohammed Mohammed (born 1989, in Deyrik) was arrested in the morning of 22 October 2009 by intelligence security forces, as he returned from college in Deyrik. At the time of his arrest the security forces insulted him and beat him in front of his neighbours. He was transferred to security offices in Hassaka. He has not been seen since despite attempts of his family and friends to visit him, nor has he been produced at Court.

There are reports from MAF Human Rights Organisation of three other arrests:
• On 30 October 2009 the Syrian Political Security arrested Antar Showkat Ali, (born 1990) in Kobani town. He is a first year student at the Faculty if Fine Arts in Aleppo. They also arrested Mustafa Nassan (born in Kobani). He is a student at Beirut University in Lebanon. The authorities initially denied that these people were in their custody, but their families have discovered that they are imprisoned by Political Security in Alepo.
• On 11 November 2009 Syrian Political Security arrested Mohammed Salih Khalil (born 1953 in Afrin), a member of the Political Buro of Kurdish Democratic Party al-Party in Syria.

SKS

14 November 2009

Kurdish student arrested and excluded from University for internet activity

Bafel Ali Ahmed, born 1987 in Qamishli, in the Kurdish region of Syria was a student registered in the Faculty of Arts, at Damascus University.  He has been suspended from his course and evicted from his accommodation there.

Bafel Ali Ahmed was arrested on 5 April 2009 by the military security forces in Qamishli without a warrant, for activity in the media with particular reference to electronic media. He was later transferred to the Palestine Branch of Military Security in Damascus, and was released seven weeks later on 24 May 2009. Read more