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BEIRUT, June 1 (AFP) - 15h05 - A Kurdish Muslim
cleric in Syria who was reported missing last month
has died after being tortured, Kurdish party
officials said Wednesday, a charge disputed by
Damascus.
Sheikh Mohammed Maashuq al-Khaznawi had not been
heard from since May 10 and was believed to have
been detained by Syrian police.
The cleric "was killed at the hands of Syrian
authorities," a spokesman for the Kurdish Yakiti
party said in a statement received by AFP in Beirut.
But an interior ministry official in Damascus,
quoted by Syria's state news agency SANA, said the
sheikh was kidnapped and killed by a criminal gang.
"Five people kidnapped Sheikh Khaznawi in Damascus
and took him off to Aleppo (to the north) where they
killed him," the unnamed official said, without
giving a motive. "The gang has been arrested," he
said.
An official from the Kurdish Democratic Party in
Syria, Nazir Mustapha, told AFP that the cleric was
seen at a military hospital in Damascus with "traces
of torture" on Khaznawi's body.
The sheikh was widely popular in Syria, and was
known for teaching that Islam and democracy are
compatible. He was last seen leaving Damascus's
Islamic Studies centre, of which he was vice
president.
Human rights groups announced the disappearance of
the Kurdish cleric, while Syrian authorities denied
holding Khaznawi in custody.
His disappearance led some 10,000 Kurds to
demonstrate in his hometown of Qamishli in northern
Syria on May 21, demanding that authorities release
news of the cleric's whereabouts.
Mustapha said the cleric's body was expected to
arrive later Wednesday in Qamishli, where he would
be buried.
Qamishli was the site of riots in March 2004 that
began with stadium fighting between Arab and Kurdish
football fans and grew into bloody clashes between
Kurdish protestors, Syrian security forces and Arab
tribesmen.
Kurdish sources reported that 40 died in the
fighting. Syrian authorities said 25 were killed.
Hundreds of Kurds were arrested following the
disturbances but Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in
March ordered all the prisoners released.
Hassan Saleh, secretary general of the Yakiti party,
said earlier this month that the pardon had not been
fully carried out, and alleged that more than 100
Kurds remained in jail.
Saleh also said a number of Kurds were arrested anew
by Syrian forces in early May.
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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