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DAMASCUS, May 22 (Reuters) - Syria's Supreme
State Security Court on Sunday sentenced three Kurds
convicted of seeking secession to 30 months in jail,
their lawyer said.
"They have been sentenced to 2-1/2 years for
belonging to a group that seeks to split territory
off from Syria," said lawyer and human right
activist Anwar al-Bunni.
The three -- Rashad Sheikhi, Abdou al-Amir and Azad
Ahmad -- belong to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),
a group banned in Syria since a standoff with Turkey
over its activities.
In 1998, Syria and Turkey reached the brink of
military confrontation before Damascus met a Turkish
request to expel PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Ankara
had repeatedly complained that Syria was backing PKK
rebels fighting in southeast Turkey.
Ocalan led an armed campaign for a Kurdish homeland
in the southeast from 1984 in which more than 30,000
people, mainly Kurds, were killed. He was later
captured and jailed by Turkey.
Bunni said political reasons lay behind the
conviction of the three Syrian Kurds. "This came
because of rapprochement between Syria and Turkey,"
he said.
The two countries have improved ties in recent
years. Both worry that Kurdish autonomy in northern
Iraq could strengthen separatist aspirations among
their own Kurdish minorities.
Several banned Kurdish political groups in Syria,
which has an estimated two million Kurds, demand the
right to teach their language. They also demand
citizenship, which is required for state education
and employment, for about 200,000 Kurds classified
as stateless based on a 1962 survey.
In March, President Bashar al-Assad pardoned 312
Syrian Kurds accused of taking part in riots and
clashes with the police in 2003 after a soccer match
brawl. Thirty people, including several policemen,
were killed in the violence.
The case of the three jailed PKK members is not
linked to the riots, Bunni said.
Reuters
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