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DAMASCUS, June 1 (AFP) - 20h04 - Syria Wednesday
blamed the murder of an outspoken Kurdish Muslim
religious leader on criminals, but Kurdish parties
claimed he was tortured and killed by the
authorities.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of mourners turned out
for the funeral of Sheikh Mohammed Maashuq al-Khaznawi
near Qamishli in northeast Syria where served as a
prayer leader, Kurdish officials told AFP.
The sheikh had gone missing on May 10 and was
believed to have been detained by Syrian police,
according to Kurdish parties.
The body was handed over to his family by the
authorities earlier Wednesday.
The 46-year-old Khaznawi "was killed at the hands of
Syrian authorities," a spokesman for the banned
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
added.
However, an official of the Kurdish Democratic Party
in Syria, Nazir Mustapha, told AFP the sheikh had
been seen at a military hospital in Damascus with
"traces of torture" on his body.
"The authorities should show the gang on
television," said Mustapha.
The sheikh was a popular figure 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.
Amnesty International said Khaznawi was "at least
the sixth Syrian Kurd to have died as a result of
torture and ill-treatment since March 2004".
The religious leader "died on 30 May, 20 days after
he 'disappeared', apparently detained by Syrian
military intelligence at an unknown location", the
rights group said.
It called for Syrian authorities to launch "an
immediate, independent investigation" into the
sheikh's death "in custody". The results should be
made public and "those responsible for his torture
brought to justice", it said.
Days before his disappearance, the Syrian Kurdish
religious leader was reported to have called in an
interview with the Canadian newspaper, the Globe and
Mail, for regime change in Damascus.
"Either the regime will change or the regime must go
... I could not have said this five years ago
because the Americans weren't in (neighbouring) Iraq
five years ago," he said.
"The reason I and others can speak out is because
the Americans are trying to get rid of dictators and
help the oppressed," he was quoted as saying.
His disappearance led some 10,000 Kurds to
demonstrate in his hometown of Qamishli near the
Turkish border on May 21, demanding that authorities
release news of the cleric's whereabouts.
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 people 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, Yakiti secretary general, said in
early May 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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