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
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
URGENT ACTION Three men held incommunicado risk torture
Anwer Naso, Hassan Saleh, Ma’rouf Mulla Ahmed and Muhammad Ahmed Mustafa are all reported to have been brought before a military prosecutor in Damascus on 19 April. Anwer Naso was released without charge three days later, on 22 April, but the three others remain in detention apparently under investigation.
Hassan Saleh, Ma’rouf Mulla Ahmed and Muhammad Ahmed Mustafa, all senior members of the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria, which has not been legally authorized by the Syrian authorities, were arrested in late December 2009, together with Anwer Naso. They were held in solitary confinement for nine days by Political Security officials in al-Hasakah, north-east Syria, and interrogated, then transferred to Political Security’s al-Fayha’ branch in Damascus on 4 January, 2010. Read more
Concluding observations of the UN Committee against Torture SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
Committee against Torture
Forty-fourth session
26 April – 14 May 2010
Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the convention
ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION
Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
1. The Committee against Torture considered the initial report of Syrian Arab Republic (CAT/C/SYR/1) at its 937th and 939th meetings (CAT/C/SR.937 and 939), held on 3 and 4 May 2010, and adopted, at its 951st meeting (CAT/C/SR.951), the following concluding observations.
A. Introduction
2. The Committee welcomes the submission of the initial report of Syria, which, while generally following the Committee’s guidelines for reporting, lacks statistical and practical information on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention and relevant domestic legislation. However, the Committee regrets that the report was submitted 5 years late which prevented the Committee from conducting an analysis of the implementation of the Convention in the State party following its ratification in 2004. Read more
UN Committee Against Torture hears response of Syria 4 May 2010
The Committee against Torture this afternoon heard the response of Syria to questions raised by Committee Experts on the initial report of that country on how it is implementing the provisions of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Responding to a series of questions raised by the Committee members on Monday, 3 May, the delegation, which was led by Najm Al Ahmad, Deputy Minister of Justice of Syria, said it had been alleged that Decree No. 64 of 2008 gave immunity to security officers if they committed criminal acts during their duties, including torture. However, that decree provided no one with any immunity whatsoever and a text would be provided to the Committee. It was a military judiciary court that was seized of such acts and it only provided for immunity for specific acts carried out in the line of duty. Regarding the riot in Sednaya Prison, in that case the prisoners had taken the prison guards hostage and had threatened to kill them if the prison authorities did not meet their demands. Some of the guards had in fact been killed. The police had not used force against the rioters at the start, but only after long negotiations. An investigation had been carried out and detailed responses had been sent to the High Commissioner for Human Rights. A copy of that response would be provided to the Committee. Read more
Damascus Centre for Human Rights Studies – NGO shadow report for the review of the Syrian Arab Republic under the UN convention against torture (CAT)
See the report – click here
Extract:
Introduction
Since March 8th 1963, Syria has been ruled under a state of emergency imposed by a military order upon the basis of the Law of Emergency although the procedures dictated by this law have not been followed.1 This law and in particular its articles 4 and 5 involves restrictions on a wide range of human rights which ought to be respected like freedom of individuals in assembly, residence and movement. It additionally violates the right to privacy and permits seizure of properties . Read more
YASA – NGO shadow report for the review of the Syrian Arab Republic under the UN convention against torture (CAT)
A former Kurdish prisoner in Syria described torture in the prison as follow “they were four men who tortured me. They beat me with a whip, with a woodblock, with their feet and hands. They beat me everywhere and so hard on my head, my ears and eyes, on my back, my legs and everywhere until I reached the point of not feeling any pain… then everything became dark“.
See the report – click here
All reports: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/cats44.htm
KHRP – NGO SHADOW REPORT FOR THE REVIEW OF THE SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC UNDER THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE (CAT)
Submitted by Kurdish Human Rights Project
April 2010
Kurdish Human Rights Project
11 Guilford Street
LondonWC1N 1DH
KURDISH HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT
INTRODUCTION
1. This report is not a comprehensive analysis of torture in Syria. Rather it focuses upon cases of mistreatment of Kurdish people in Syria which undermine the submissions made in the Initial Report submitted by the Syrian Arab Republic in July 2009. Syrian Kurds are stateless peoples who continue to be targeted by the Syrian authorities and subjected to ill treatment, characteristically in the form of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, extrajudicial killings, disappearances, as well as torture and deaths in custody.
2. In respect of Syria’s implementation of the Convention against Torture, KHRP advances three principal submissions: (1) Syrian law must criminalise the offence of torture; (2) Syria must properly enforce legislation aimed at preventing and punishing acts of torture; and (3) Syria must properly investigate allegations of torture against Syrian Kurds and, where torture is established to have occurred, provide appropriate redress. KHRP would like to thank International Support Kurds in Syria (SKS) for its assistance in the compilation of this report.
The report is available to download here
All reports re available here: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/cats44.htm
Report from Kurdwatch
Al Qamishli: Former PKK militant must continue to await a verdict February 13, 2010 – On February 9, 2010, the single military judge in al Qamishli postponed the decision in the case of Mihemed Selahedîn el Moso (b. 1985) until April 12, 2010. For unknown reasons, el Moso had not been brought to the hearing from al Qamishli prison, causing the postponement.
In 2002, former PKK militant el Moso left the PKK after a two year membership and returned to Syria from Iraq. He promised several families there that for a suitable fee he would bring their sons and daughters back to Syria from the Kandil Mountains (Kurdistan Iraq), the location of the PKK military bases. It later emerged that he had deceived the families. Consequently, members of the State Security in al Hasakah arrested him on August 23, 2009. Due to his earlier membership in the PKK, el Moso was charged with membership of an illegal party pursuant to Articles 307 and 308 of the Criminal Code. Read more
Kurdish man died under torture in Syria, two others arrested.
According to Syrian Committee for Human Rights – MAD, Mohammed Musto Rashid from Mabatli, Afrin, died as a result of torture in Aleppo Central prison. He had been in detention for nearly four months, and had been subjected to severe torture, and was taken to hospital in Allepo where he stayed for four days. He was then sent back to prison and his death was announced on 19 January 2010. The reason for his arrest and detention is not known, nor if this was in connection with any political activity.
Zahr al-Din Khorshid Ibish and his brother Rashid, from the town of Afrin, were arrested on 1 January 2010 after a raid on their house by security forces. Zahr al-Din Khorshid Ibish had been detained in Turkey for eight years for allegedly belonging to the PKK. He was handed to the Syrian authorities in 2004, and was then imprisoned for three months. He then moved to live in Lebanon with his brother, where he worked for three years. On return to Syria they were arrested again, but the reasons for the arrest are unknown. Read more
