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Kurdish political party chief Mohammed
Mussa arrested in Syria
22.7.2008 |
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July
22, 2008
Hassake, Kurdish northeastern Syria, —
The head of a banned Kurdish political group has
been arrested by the Syrian security services under
emergency laws, a human rights group said on Monday.
"The military security services in Damascus arrested
Mohammed Mussa,www.ekurd.net
secretary general of the
Kurdish Left Party on Saturday," the National
Organisation of Human Rights in Syria (NOHRS) said
in a statement.
Mussa, 56, was been arrested and questioned
previously by security services in Hassake,
northeastern Syria (Syrian Kurdistan) because of
"his party's activities and his comments to the Arab
media," NOHRS said.
The group branded his detention as unconstitutional
because he was arrested under "emergency powers
which have been in place in Syria for 45 years,"
rather than by judicial authorities.
Syrian authorities should release Mussa immediately
and abandon the emergency powers under which they
are making arrests, the group said.
Mussa's party also called for their leader's
release,www.ekurd.net
saying, "Mohammed Mussa
is a nationalist who defends the interests and the
legitimate rights of the Kurdish people as well as
those of all the Syrian people."
The majority of Syria's 1.5 million Kurds live in
the north of the country. There are 11 unauthorised
Kurdish political parties in Syria, independent
observers say.
Syrian Kurdish officials deny claims they aim to
establish a separate state and say they only want
political rights and recognition of their language
and culture.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, AFP
** Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria
making up 10% of the country's population i.e. about
two million.
Kurds in Syria often speak Kurdish in public,
unless all those present do not. Kurdish human
rights activists are mistreated and persecuted. No
political parties are allowed for any group, Kurdish
or otherwise.
Suppression of ethnic identity of
Kurds in Syria include: various bans on the use of
the Kurdish language; refusal to register children
with Kurdish names; replacement of Kurdish place
names with new names in Arabic; prohibition of
businesses that do not have Arabic names; not
permitting Kurdish private schools; and the
prohibition of books and other materials written in
Kurdish.
More about Kurds in Syria
- (Kurdistan-Syria) From Wikipedia
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