Hassan Ibrahim Saleh is a member of the political committee of the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria. He was born in 1947, and is married with eight children. He is a retired teacher with a degree in geography. He is a resident of the town of Qamishli – Hasakah province. Mohamed Mustapha is a member of the Political Committee of the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria. He was born in 1962, and is married with one daughter. He is a lawyer and a former detainee. He is a resident of the town of Qamishli – Hasakah province.
Maroof Mulla Ahmed is a member of the Political Committee of Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria. He was born in 1952, and is married with four children. He has a high school diploma, and is also a former detainee. He is a resident of the town of Qamishli – Hasakah province.
Anwar Nasso is a political activist. He was born in 1962, and is married with three children. He is an artist, and holds a qualification in agricultural studies from college, and he is employed. He is also a former detainee, and is a resident of Amuda town in Hasakah province.
It is believed that these people have been arrested because they promoted the idea that the solution to the problem for Kurds in Syria is through autonomy for the Kurdish region. This was accepted by the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria during the Sixth Conference in December 2009. It is a challenge to the Government which tries to divide the Kurds, but the Kurdish Yekiti Party is clear that it will continue on behalf of Kurdish human rights, and for democracy and freedom despite the conspiracy against them.
The following organisations have condemned the action to arrest these four men:
* Kurdish organisation for the defence of human rights and general liberties in Syria – DAD
* Syrian Committee for Human Rights – MAD
* Kurdish Committee for Human Rights – al-Rased
The following political parties have together denounced the arrests:
* Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria
* Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (al-Party)
* Kurdish Azadi Party in Syria
* Kurdish Leftist Party in Syria
* Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria
* Kurdish Patriotic Democratic Party in Syria
* Kurdish Future Current in Syria
* Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria
The following political parties have together denounced the arrests:
* Kurdistan Azadi Party –Iran
* Kurdistan Democratic Party – Iran
* Kurdistan Patriotic Party
* Kurdistan Struggle Organisation – Iran
The following political party has individually denounced the arrests:
* Syrian Kurdish Democratic Accord Party
Background
Syria: Kurds in the Syrian Arab Republic one year after the March 2004 events
Hassan Saleh and Marwan ‘Uthman participated on 10 December 2002 in a peaceful demonstration celebrating the universally-recognised Human Rights Day,outside the People’s Assembly in Damascus. The demonstrators were calling for the government to officially recognise the existence of the Kurdish nationality within the unity of the country, remove the barriers imposed on the Kurdish language and culture, and release all political prisoners. The two men, both leading members of the illegal Kurdish Yeketi Party, were arrested five days later when they appeared, as requested, to meet with the then Minister of the Interior, Major General ‘Ali Hammud. On 20 December 2002 they reportedly appeared without legal representation before the Military Court where they were charged with “involvement in an unauthorised organisation”. They were initially detained at the Political Security Department in Damascus, where, after two and a half months of incommunicado detention, they were allowed monthly visits by close members of their families. The visits were restricted to between 15 and 30 minutes each, and carried out from behind bars in the presence of a security officer. While held at the Political Security Department they both reportedly suffered beatings by security officers, and for prolonged periods were denied visits by lawyers and doctors. There were particular concerns for sixty-year-old Hassan Saleh’s health as he was suffering from chest pains and was denied medical treatment.
In March 2003 the Military Court, having added the charge of “inciting sectarian strife” to the initial charge, transferred the case to the SSSC which added a further charge of “attempting to sever part of the Syrian territories and annex it to another state”. They were only permitted to talk very briefly with a lawyer, reportedly for three or four minutes, through a window while in the SSSC’s detention centre. After almost one year’s detention, they were transferred to a Military Police detention centre where they reportedly suffered physical and psychological torture, including being stripped naked in front of security officers and other prisoners. A military judge then ordered them to ‘Adra Prison, where they were put in solitary confinement for about three months. In February 2004 the SSSC convicted them of “attempting to sever part of the Syrian territory and annex it to a foreign state”. They were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment which was reduced immediately by the Court President to 14 months, which time they had already served in prison, and they were released on 24 February 2004. Amnesty International considered both men to be prisoners of conscience.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE24/002/2005/en/9aea4751-d539-11dd-8a23-d58a49c0d652/mde240022005en.html24/002/2005/en/9aea4751-d539-11dd-8a23-d58a49c0d652/mde240022005en.html>
Syria: two leaders of the Kurdish Yekiti Party before the State Security Court for having asked the authorities to ‘review their discriminatory policies.
Two leaders of the Kurdish Yekiti (Unity) Party who had been jailed in December after a sit-in organised in Damascus, will be brought before an emergency tribunal, the State Security Court. “Messrs Marouane Osman and Hassan Saleh are to be brought before the State Security Court for the offence of having aroused religious dissension” explained Mr. Anouar Bounni in a communiqué dated 9 February. “This is a step backwards and an attempt to reactivate the emergency laws” established nearly forty years ago, said Mr. Bounni.
On 10 December last, nearly 150m Kurds had demonstrated in front of the Syrian Parliament to ask the authorities to “review their discriminatory policies” against the Kurdish population of Syria. Messrs Osman and Saleh were arrested five days later when they visited the Ministry of the Interior to meet the Minister, Ali Hammoud, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Syria (CDDS) stated in a communiqué. “Their lawyers have requested that Messrs Osman and Saleh be brought before ordinary courts. They stressed, moreover, that the accused are members of the Political Committee of the Yekiti Party, which works quite openly, in the absence of any law regarding political parties” Mr. Bounni continued.
In October 2002, in an open letter to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, five Kurdish parties, making up the Kurdish Democratic Alliance of Syria (KDAS) had demanded that the authorities return to almost 200,000 Kurds their national identity cards that had been withdrawn from them in 1962.
2004
Sentencing of Two Leaders of Yekiti Party for Petition
In February 2004, the SSSC convicted two leaders in the unauthorized Kurdish Yekiti party, Hassan Saleh and Marwan `Uthman, on charges of attempting “to cut-off part of Syrian land to join it to another country.” They were sentenced to three years, which the court later reduced to 14 months.
Syrian security forces had arrested the men on December 15, 2002, five days after their party had staged a sit-in outside the Syrian National Assembly; they had tried to deliver a statement to the President of the National Assembly calling on the Syrian regime to “remove the barriers imposed on the Kurdish language and culture and recognize the existence of the Kurdish nationality within the unity of the country.”
2009:
Yekiti Party
Since 2007 the security services have detained seven high-ranking members of Yekiti, including its general secretary Fuad `Aliko, 59, and Hasan Saleh, 62, its former general secretary and a current member of its Political Committee.
On April 14, 2009, the Fifth Sole Military Judge in Damascus sentenced `Aliko to eight months in prison for “membership in a political organization without the permission of the government” (article 288 of the penal code) and sentenced Saleh to 13 months for the same offense as well as for “inciting to riots and sectarian strife” (article 298). The military prosecutor based his charge on the allegation that they organized and participated in the demonstration that took place in Qamishli on November 2, 2007, to protest against Turkish attacks on the PKK in northern Iraq (see chapter II). Saleh and `Aliko both told Human Rights Watch that the charge was baseless and that they were not present at the demonstration, which another Kurdish party, the PYD, had organized. Both men have appealed the decision and remain free pending appeal.
The trial was the authorities’ latest effort to harass and pressure Saleh and `Aliko. The authorities have banned Saleh from traveling since 1996. Security services detained him on December 15, 2002, five days after he led a sit-in outside the Syrian National Assembly to deliver a statement calling on the Syrian regime to “remove the barriers imposed on the Kurdish language and culture” (see chapter I, section “The March 2004 events”). The security services referred him to the Supreme State Security Court, which sentenced him in February 2004 to three years in jail on charges of attempting “to cut-off part of Syrian land to join it to another country,” which the court later reduced to 14 months.
Saleh told Human Rights Watch that the harassment continued following his release in 2004: “They would arrest me for a few hours for participating or leading demonstrations calling for more rights for the Kurdish people in Syria or asking for democracy.”
Saleh’s last arrest occurred on November 2, 2008, when security forces detained him for 16 hours for leading a demonstration before the Syrian parliament that demanded the repeal of Decree No. 49, which imposes restrictions on inhabitants of border areas—a majority of whom are Kurds—to sell and buy property (see chapter II).
Saleh is currently also facing trial before a military judge in Qamishli on the charge that he distributed publications of the Yekiti party to two young men, Shehbaz Isma`il and Sawar Darwish, who stored them in their shop. The trial of Saleh and the two young men is ongoing at this writing.
Maroof Mulla Ahmed is a member of the Political Committee of Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria. He was born in 1952, and is married with four children. He has a high school diploma, and is also a former detainee. He is a resident of the town of Qamishli – Hasakah province.
Anwar Nasso is a political activist. He was born in 1962, and is married with three children. He is an artist, and holds a qualification in agricultural studies from college, and he is employed. He is also a former detainee, and is a resident of Amuda town in Hasakah province.
It is believed that these people have been arrested because they promoted the idea that the solution to the problem for Kurds in Syria is through autonomy for the Kurdish region. This was accepted by the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria during the Sixth Conference in December 2009. It is a challenge to the Government which tries to divide the Kurds, but the Kurdish Yekiti Party is clear that it will continue on behalf of Kurdish human rights, and for democracy and freedom despite the conspiracy against them.
The following organisations have condemned the action to arrest these four men:
* Kurdish organisation for the defence of human rights and general liberties in Syria – DAD
* Syrian Committee for Human Rights – MAD
* Kurdish Committee for Human Rights – al-Rased
The following political parties have together denounced the arrests:
* Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria
* Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (al-Party)
* Kurdish Azadi Party in Syria
* Kurdish Leftist Party in Syria
* Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria
* Kurdish Patriotic Democratic Party in Syria
* Kurdish Future Current in Syria
* Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria
The following political parties have together denounced the arrests:
* Kurdistan Azadi Party –Iran
* Kurdistan Democratic Party – Iran
* Kurdistan Patriotic Party
* Kurdistan Struggle Organisation – Iran
The following political party has individually denounced the arrests:
* Syrian Kurdish Democratic Accord Party
Background
Syria: Kurds in the Syrian Arab Republic one year after the March 2004 events
Hassan Saleh and Marwan ‘Uthman participated on 10 December 2002 in a peaceful demonstration celebrating the universally-recognised Human Rights Day,outside the People’s Assembly in Damascus. The demonstrators were calling for the government to officially recognise the existence of the Kurdish nationality within the unity of the country, remove the barriers imposed on the Kurdish language and culture, and release all political prisoners. The two men, both leading members of the illegal Kurdish Yeketi Party, were arrested five days later when they appeared, as requested, to meet with the then Minister of the Interior, Major General ‘Ali Hammud. On 20 December 2002 they reportedly appeared without legal representation before the Military Court where they were charged with “involvement in an unauthorised organisation”. They were initially detained at the Political Security Department in Damascus, where, after two and a half months of incommunicado detention, they were allowed monthly visits by close members of their families. The visits were restricted to between 15 and 30 minutes each, and carried out from behind bars in the presence of a security officer. While held at the Political Security Department they both reportedly suffered beatings by security officers, and for prolonged periods were denied visits by lawyers and doctors. There were particular concerns for sixty-year-old Hassan Saleh’s health as he was suffering from chest pains and was denied medical treatment.
In March 2003 the Military Court, having added the charge of “inciting sectarian strife” to the initial charge, transferred the case to the SSSC which added a further charge of “attempting to sever part of the Syrian territories and annex it to another state”. They were only permitted to talk very briefly with a lawyer, reportedly for three or four minutes, through a window while in the SSSC’s detention centre. After almost one year’s detention, they were transferred to a Military Police detention centre where they reportedly suffered physical and psychological torture, including being stripped naked in front of security officers and other prisoners. A military judge then ordered them to ‘Adra Prison, where they were put in solitary confinement for about three months. In February 2004 the SSSC convicted them of “attempting to sever part of the Syrian territory and annex it to a foreign state”. They were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment which was reduced immediately by the Court President to 14 months, which time they had already served in prison, and they were released on 24 February 2004. Amnesty International considered both men to be prisoners of conscience.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE24/002/2005/en/9aea4751-d539-11dd-8a23-d58a49c0d652/mde240022005en.html
Syria: two leaders of the Kurdish Yekiti Party before the State Security Court for having asked the authorities to ‘review their discriminatory policies.
Two leaders of the Kurdish Yekiti (Unity) Party who had been jailed in December after a sit-in organised in Damascus, will be brought before an emergency tribunal, the State Security Court. “Messrs Marouane Osman and Hassan Saleh are to be brought before the State Security Court for the offence of having aroused religious dissension” explained Mr. Anouar Bounni in a communiqué dated 9 February. “This is a step backwards and an attempt to reactivate the emergency laws” established nearly forty years ago, said Mr. Bounni.
On 10 December last, nearly 150m Kurds had demonstrated in front of the Syrian Parliament to ask the authorities to “review their discriminatory policies” against the Kurdish population of Syria. Messrs Osman and Saleh were arrested five days later when they visited the Ministry of the Interior to meet the Minister, Ali Hammoud, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Syria (CDDS) stated in a communiqué. “Their lawyers have requested that Messrs Osman and Saleh be brought before ordinary courts. They stressed, moreover, that the accused are members of the Political Committee of the Yekiti Party, which works quite openly, in the absence of any law regarding political parties” Mr. Bounni continued.
In October 2002, in an open letter to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, five Kurdish parties, making up the Kurdish Democratic Alliance of Syria (KDAS) had demanded that the authorities return to almost 200,000 Kurds their national identity cards that had been withdrawn from them in 1962.
2004
Sentencing of Two Leaders of Yekiti Party for Petition
In February 2004, the SSSC convicted two leaders in the unauthorized Kurdish Yekiti party, Hassan Saleh and Marwan `Uthman, on charges of attempting “to cut-off part of Syrian land to join it to another country.” They were sentenced to three years, which the court later reduced to 14 months.
Syrian security forces had arrested the men on December 15, 2002, five days after their party had staged a sit-in outside the Syrian National Assembly; they had tried to deliver a statement to the President of the National Assembly calling on the Syrian regime to “remove the barriers imposed on the Kurdish language and culture and recognize the existence of the Kurdish nationality within the unity of the country.”
2009:
Yekiti Party
Since 2007 the security services have detained seven high-ranking members of Yekiti, including its general secretary Fuad `Aliko, 59, and Hasan Saleh, 62, its former general secretary and a current member of its Political Committee.
On April 14, 2009, the Fifth Sole Military Judge in Damascus sentenced `Aliko to eight months in prison for “membership in a political organization without the permission of the government” (article 288 of the penal code) and sentenced Saleh to 13 months for the same offense as well as for “inciting to riots and sectarian strife” (article 298). The military prosecutor based his charge on the allegation that they organized and participated in the demonstration that took place in Qamishli on November 2, 2007, to protest against Turkish attacks on the PKK in northern Iraq (see chapter II). Saleh and `Aliko both told Human Rights Watch that the charge was baseless and that they were not present at the demonstration, which another Kurdish party, the PYD, had organized. Both men have appealed the decision and remain free pending appeal.
The trial was the authorities’ latest effort to harass and pressure Saleh and `Aliko. The authorities have banned Saleh from traveling since 1996. Security services detained him on December 15, 2002, five days after he led a sit-in outside the Syrian National Assembly to deliver a statement calling on the Syrian regime to “remove the barriers imposed on the Kurdish language and culture” (see chapter I, section “The March 2004 events”). The security services referred him to the Supreme State Security Court, which sentenced him in February 2004 to three years in jail on charges of attempting “to cut-off part of Syrian land to join it to another country,” which the court later reduced to 14 months.
Saleh told Human Rights Watch that the harassment continued following his release in 2004: “They would arrest me for a few hours for participating or leading demonstrations calling for more rights for the Kurdish people in Syria or asking for democracy.”
Saleh’s last arrest occurred on November 2, 2008, when security forces detained him for 16 hours for leading a demonstration before the Syrian parliament that demanded the repeal of Decree No. 49, which imposes restrictions on inhabitants of border areas—a majority of whom are Kurds—to sell and buy property (see chapter II).
Saleh is currently also facing trial before a military judge in Qamishli on the charge that he distributed publications of the Yekiti party to two young men, Shehbaz Isma`il and Sawar Darwish, who stored them in their shop. The trial of Saleh and the two young men is ongoing at this writing.
