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Syria jails three members of Kurdish party
28.8.2005
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DAMASCUS, Aug 28
(Reuters) - Syria's Supreme State Security Court
sentenced three Syrian Kurds on Sunday to 30 months
in jail for belonging to a Kurdish party banned as a
separatist faction, a human rights activist said.
Ammar Qurabi of the Arab Organisation of Human
Rights in Syria (AOHRS) told Reuters the three men
were also indicted of "infringing on the interest of
a friendly state", in an apparent reference to
Turkey.
Qurabi said Mustapha Khalil, Abdul-Karim Allo and
Mohammad Nouman belonged to the banned Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK).
Damascus banned the PKK after a standoff with Turkey
over the group's activities in 1998.
In June, Syria sentenced three members of the PKK to
jail after convicting them of seeking secession.
Syria and Turkey came to 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.
The two neighbours have improved ties in recent
years. Both worry that Kurdish autonomy in northern
Iraq could strengthen separatist aspirations among
their own Kurdish minorities.
Three Kurds jailed in Syria
DAMASCUS, Aug 28 (AFP) - 16h18 - Syria's
state security court has sentenced three Kurds to
prison terms of two-and-a-half years each for
belonging to a "secret organisation", their lawyer
said Sunday.
The three Kurds were accused of belonging to "a
secret organisation that seeks to annex part of
Syrian territory to a foreign country", said Faisal
Badr, their lawyer.
The convicted men -- Mustapha Hanif Khalil, Abdel
Karim Alo and Mohammad Naaman Mohammad Hanan -- are
members of the Democratic Union Party, which is
banned by the ruling Baath regime.
Badr slammed the verdicts as "unconstitutional".
"This is the customary accusation made against all
Kurds who appear before this court. It has no basis
because the Kurds are demanding a solution for their
problem within the framework of Syria's territorial
unity," said Badr.
Some 1.5 million Kurds live in Syria, where they
make up around nine percent of the population.
The Democratic Union Party supports having Kurdish
language, culture and political rights recognised by
the government, but Kurdish officials deny any
attempt to secede.
Syria's security court operates under emergency laws
that have been in force for decades.
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