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Syria: The authorities must investigate deaths
in detention and end torture and ill-treatment
Amnesty International is seriously concerned to
learn of the deaths of two Syrian Kurds in one week,
both reportedly following torture and ill-treatment
in detention by the security forces. The deaths fit
into a pattern of torture and ill-treatment of
detainees in Syria's prisons and detention centres.
Ahmad Ma'mu Kenjo, a 37-year-old father of three, is
reported to have died on 3 August from a brain
haemorrhage resulting from severe head injuries
received in a beating by a security patrol in Ras
al-'Ayn, north-eastern Syria, in late March, and by
further beatings to the head sustained while
detained incommunicado at an unknown location during
April and May. The initial head wound - reportedly
perpetrated by officers of Military Intelligence
(al-Mukhabarat al-'Askariya) or of Political
Security (al-Amn al-Siyassi) - was said to have
caused severe head pains and serious brain damage -
as a result of which he was released. He died at
home. It is believed that Ahmad Ma'mu Kenjo was
never charged with an offence; however, his brother
Husayn Kenjo is currently held in 'Adra Prison, near
Damascus, on charges connected to his alleged
involvement in the Qamishli events in mid-March.
On 1 or 2 August, Ahmad Husayn Hasan (named in some
reports as Ahmad Husayn Husayn) reportedly died in
custody at the Military Intelligence Branch in al-Hasaka,
also in north-eastern Syria, having been detained
incommunicado since his arrest on 13 July. Ahmad
Husayn Hasan, a father of four, was from al-Malikiye
(known as Deyrek in Kurdish) near the borders with
Iraq and Turkey, and is believed to have died due to
torture. Military Intelligence officers told Ahmad
Husayn Hasan's family that his body was buried at
Tel Ma'teb cemetery, without allowing anyone to see
the body or to have a post-mortem conducted. It is
believed that Ahmad Husayn Hasan was never charged
with an offence. He was reportedly a sympathiser of
the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, on organisation
closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The above cases fit in with a consistent pattern of
torture and ill-treatment of detainees by the Syrian
security forces, and reports of increasing
ill-treatment of Kurdish detainees, including
children, since March. In 2004 alone, Amnesty
International has received information on the deaths
in custody of eight Syrians, of whom five were
Syrian Kurds. No investigation is known to have been
carried out into the deaths.
Amnesty International calls on the Syrian
authorities to establish an independent and
impartial investigation into the deaths of Ahmad
Ma'mu Kenjo and Ahmad Husayn Hasan, and into all
recent deaths in custody in accordance with
international standards. Amnesty International also
calls upon the authorities to prosecute anyone found
responsible for torture and ill-treatment, and to
compensate the families of those who died as a
result of torture and ill-treatment.
Background
Amnesty International has documented 38 different
types of torture and ill-treatment reportedly used
against detainees in prisons and detention centres
in Syria. It is believed that most of these forms of
torture and ill-treatment continue to be used, and
indeed that new methods are being used.
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