Hassan Saleh is a member of the Political Committee of the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria. He was sentenced on charges of belonging to a secret and banned organisation, and inciting sectarianism and racism. The Judge then reduced the term to eight months.
The Individual Military Judge in Qamishli (Western Kurdistan) also gave sentences of six months imprisonment to Shahbaz Nazir Ismail, and Swar Abdul Rahman Darwish on charges of possession of publications belonging to the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria. Their sentences were reduced to four months by the Judge.
Hassan Saleh is a member of the Political Committee of the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria
Swar Abdul Rahman Darwish was arrested on 20 December 2008 by a criminal security patrol during a search of shops in Qamishli, after the patrol found the banned publications belonging to Yekiti Party. Swar Abdul Rahman Darwish was handed to the Political Security forces, and confessed that he had received the publications from Shahbaz Nazir Ismail who was also arrested. Shahbaz Nazir Ismail then confessed that the publications came from Hassan Saleh.
Shahbaz Nazir Ismail was presented at a military court on charges of belonging to a secret and banned society, and was freed on bail after about three and a half months in prison. The individual military judge in Qamishli tried Hassan Saleh, who admitted that the seized publications belonged to him and stated that Shahbaz Nazir Ismail and Swar Abdul Rahman Darwish had nothing to do with this.
Hassan Saleh is already waiting for a previous sentence to reach an appeal in the Court of Cassation. He had been sentenced to one year and one month by the individual military judge in Damascus on 15 April 2009, on the charges of belonging to a banned secret organization, and incitement to riot during the demonstration called by the Democratic Union Party [PYD] in Qamishli on 2 November 2008. This demonstration was held to condemn Turkish threats to invade Kurdistan region of Iraq. Witnesses testified that Hassan Saleh had not participated in the demonstration.
Hassan Saleh was arrested along with Mohamed Mustapha, Maroof Mulla Ahmed who are members of the Political Committee of Kurdish Yekiti Party, and Anwar Nasso who is a political activist and artist. They were detained by Political Security on 26 December 2009, but were not informed of the charges against them. The whereabouts of all these men is currently unknown.
