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Syria court jails two Kurds for separatism
13.6.2005
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DAMASCUS, June 12
(AFP) - 17h21 - Syria's state security court on
Sunday sentenced two Kurds to prison terms for
belonging to "a secret organisation attempting to
annex part of Syrian territory to a foreign
country," a lawyer said.
The two Kurds, Mohammad Ali Bakr and Abdel Kader
Kader, are members of the Democratic Union, said
human rights lawyer Anwar Bunni.
Opposition political parties are banned in Syria,
which is ruled by the Arab nationalist Baath regime
of President Bashar al-Assad.
Despite recent pledges by the regime to allow
political parties, the Baath party said those based
on an "ethnic, religious or regional basis" would
not be allowed.
The new jail terms came amid rising sectarian
tensions between Kurds and Arabs over the death of
popular Kurdish cleric Maashuq Khaznawi, an
outspoken advocate of Kurdish rights, who
disappeared in May.
On June 2, the authorities announced that Khaznawi
had been abducted by a "criminal gang," and said
they had arrested five men in connection with his
killing.
But Kurdish parties were unconvinced, and many
suggested the cleric had been kidnapped, tortured
and murdered by government agents.
Khaznawi's death triggered fresh clashes between
security forces and protesters in his hometown of
Qamishli, 680 kilometres (420 miles) northeast of
Damascus.
Security forces dispersed Kurdish protests as
residents demanded to "know the truth."
Several protesters were wounded and more than 50
Kurds arrested.
Shortly before he disappeared, Khaznawi took a trip
to Europe where he met with Kurdish officials as
well as the head of the Muslim Brotherhood. The
Islamist group has been outlawed in Syria on pain of
death since 1980.
On Sunday, Bunni said the families of 26 detainees
from Qatana, 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Damascus,
gathered in front of the state security court to
demand news of their relatives, whom they had not
been allowed to visit for 13 months.
The detainees, many of whom are under age 20, were
imprisoned for "belonging to an Islamist movement,"
Bunni said.
Kurds and Islamists form the main opposition to the
regime.
The lawyer denounced the detentions as "against all
the news about changes in Syria, particularly
concerning the state of emergency which is still in
effect."
Human rights advocates have criticised Syria's
emergency laws, in effect since the Baath party took
power in 1963, because they limit free expression
and permit state security courts and so-called
"arbitrary arrests."
During a Baath party congress earlier this month,
the Syrian regime adopted a recommendation to revise
the emergency law and limit its application to
"crimes that threaten state security."
However, Damascus views the expression of Kurdish
language and culture as a threat to national unity
and Kurds are frequently arrested for alleged
separatism.
The Kurdish population in Syria is estimated at 1.5
million, about nine percent of the population.
In March 2004, several days of deadly clashes pitted
Kurds against the security forces and Arab
tribesmen. The authorities said 25 people were
killed, but Kurdish sources put the death toll as
high as 40.
AFP
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