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DUBAI, May 12 (AFP) - 21h41 - A number of
Kurdish political activists have been arrested in
Syria, particularly in a town where deadly
disturbances took place last year, a Kurdish
political leader told Al-Arabiya television
Thursday.
"Numerous members of Kurdish parties have been
arrested," said Hassen Saleh, chief of the Yakiti
party. Saleh, who did not give any details, told Al-Arabiya
he was speaking from the northeastern town of
Qamishli, on the Turkish border.
In March 2004, clashes pitted Kurdish protestors
against Syrian security forces and Arab tribes in
Qamishli and Aleppo. The Kurds said 40 people died,
while the Syrian authorities gave a death toll of
25.
Hundreds of Kurds were arrested following the
disturbances. On March 30 of this year, Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad ordered all of them
released.
Saleh said this "campaign of arrests ... is taking
place despite the presidential pardon."
He added that the pardon had not been fully carried
out, and that "more than 100 Kurds still remain in
prison.
Saleh added that he was concerned for the fate of a
Kurdish Muslim dignitary, Sheikh Mohammed Maashuq
al-Jaznawi, who has not been heard from since
leaving the Islamic studies centre in Damascus two
days ago.
Syria is home to some 1.5 million Kurds, around nine
percent of the population. They are fighting to have
their language, culture and political rights
recognised.
AFP
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