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Syria arrests key Kurdish activist
21.12.2006
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DAMASCUS,
December 21, -- Syrian authorities have arrested the
deputy head of the banned Kurdish political party
Yakiti, a human rights group said Thursday.
Mehieddin Sheikh Ali was taken into custody
Wednesday evening in the northern city of Aleppo by
two security officers, the National Organisation of
Human Rights in Syria said in a statement.
"He was at a cafe in Aleppo in the company of a
friend," said the rights body's head, Ammar Qorabi,
adding that Aali was last seen being "taken away to
an unknown destination".
Yakiti, also known as the Kurdish Democratic Union,
was among several opposition parties that signed a
declaration in Damascus in October 2005 calling for
democratic change in the country.
In its statement, the human rights group said Sheikh
Aali's arrest was fresh proof that the Syrian
government's claims of an easing of the state of
emergency -- imposed more than 40 years ago -- were
"inexact".
"The National Organisation of Human Rights in Syria
calls upon the authorities to immediately release
Sheikh Aali and to stop using kidnapping as a means
of arrest," it said.
Syria is home to some 1.5 million Kurds, or around
nine percent of the population. They have been
fighting to have their language, culture and
political rights recognized.
AFP
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