III. Arrests of Kurdish Political Leaders and Activists

Both in connection with suppressing public demonstrations, and separately, Syrian security services have pursued individual Kurdish political leaders and activists. A Kurdish activist told Human Rights Watch in April 2009, “There used to be a red line on detaining known Kurdish political leaders. But since 2004, this line is no longer there.”[90] While security services detained some Kurdish leaders for a few hours only, they referred others for prosecution before military courts, which often sentenced them to jail. In trying these activists, the judiciary has frequently relied on article 288 of the Syrian Penal Code (joining a “political or social organization or an international group without the permission of the government”). Since none of the Kurdish political parties are registered, this article has made all members of Syria’s Kurdish parties vulnerable to arrest.

The security forces have focused particularly on arresting members of five political parties: Yekiti, the Kurdish Future Movement, Azadi, the KDP-S, and the PYD. According to Kurdish political activists, the authorities have focused on Yekiti, Azadi, and the Future Movement Party because these three parties frequently organize demonstrations and are more explicit in demanding recognition of Kurdish rights.[91] The harassment of PYD members, according to members of the party and outside observers, is because of Syria’s security agreement with the Turks, and the PYD’s ability to mobilize large crowds.[92]

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.[93] 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”).[94]  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.”[95]

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).[96]

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.

The security forces also have frequently harassed Fuad `Aliko and have banned him from traveling since 1997. He told Human Rights Watch, “Security forces have never arrested me, but they have beaten me a number of times while clamping down on demonstrations,” going on to describe the beating he sustained while in the company of his sons and Ibrahim Berro on December 10, 2006 (see chapter II). He continued,

They also call me in regularly for questioning because of the party’s activities. The last interrogation was by the head of the Party Branch in Political Security, General Yehia, on April 6, 2009. All the interrogations have one objective: threaten and insult us.[97]

The harassment has also extended to other members of Yekiti’s political bureau. On August 12, 2007, State Security officers arrested Ma`ruf Mulla Ahmad, a senior official in Yekiti, at the Syria-Lebanon border, following his return from Lebanon. They detained him for 14 days and then transferred him to the Fayha’ branch of Political Security. He remained in incommunicado detention for six months and six days. On March 3, 2008, the security services referred him to the Military Prosecutor’s Office, which charged him with belonging to a prohibited secret organization, provoking a riot, provoking racial problems, and “causing conflict between different parts of the nation.” The security services released him on March 5, 2008, and since then the prosecution has not taken any further steps.[98]

The campaign against high-ranking Yekiti members has intensified in 2009. On February 28, Political Security detained Anwar Naso, a member in Yekiti’s political bureau, following accusations that he had organized a ten minute vigil against Decree No. 49 on February 28, 2009. They released him seven hours later, but Military Intelligence detained him again on March 30, 2009 from his office.[99]  They released him on June 30, 2009.[100]

On March 20 Political Security in al-Hasakeh detained Sulayman Osso, 51, also a member of Yekiti’s political bureau (and one of those briefly detained on February 28 in connection with that day’s protest), based on the accusation that he participated in Nowruz events. The security services referred him to a military judge in Qamishli who is trying him for “membership in an unlicensed organization,” “inciting rioting,” and “inciting sectarian conflict”;[101] on June 7 the judge agreed to release him on bail, but his case is ongoing.

On April 29 State Security in Qamishli called Ibrahim Berro, a member of Yekiti’s political bureau, for interrogation. According to Kurdish activists, the reason was also the vigil against Decree No. 49 that had been planned for February 28 (see chapter II). State Security later transferred him to Political Security in Damascus. On August 9 he appeared before a military judge in Qamishli. According to his lawyers, the judge focused his questions on the objectives of the Yekiti party and about his participation in the February 28 protest. On October 21, 2009, a military court in Qamishli sentenced him to eight months in jail for “membership in an organization without the permission of the government” (article 288 of penal code).[102]

On July 29, 2009, Political Security in Aleppo summoned Shams al-Deen Hamo, 51, a member of the political bureau of Yekiti, for interrogation. They released him five days later, on August 2.[103]

The harassment also has extended to lower party ranks. On January 29, 2007, Military Intelligence stormed the home of Yasha Kader (born 1973), an activist in Yekiti, in Aleppo and detained 12 young men. An individual who was at the house described what happened:

We were 12 people gathered at Yasha’s house to attend a cultural talk on Kurds. Suddenly, members of Aleppo’s Military Intelligence came in and took all of us to their branch. They kept us for 10 days in Aleppo and then they transferred us to the Palestine Branch [of Military Intelligence] in Damascus. They released seven of us and kept five in detention. The five had confessed that they were members in the Yekiti party.[104]

The five who remained in detention were Yasha Kader, Nazmi Muhammad, Tahseen Mammo, Dalkash Mammo, and Ahmad Khalil Darwish. Military Intelligence transferred them to Sednaya prison and referred them to the SSSC, which charged them with undertaking “acts ... to cut off part of Syrian land to join it to another country” (article 267 of the penal code). Following riots in Sednaya prison in July 2008, their families lost all contact with them as a consequence of an information blackout imposed by the authorities.[105] In July 2009 four of the families managed to see their relatives, but the family of Tahseen Mammo remained without information about him at the time of writing. Their trial before the SSSC is ongoing.[106]

Kurdish Future Movement

On August 15, 2008, at 2 a.m., Air Force Intelligence arrested Mesh`al Tammo, 51, the official spokesperson for the Kurdish Future Movement in Syria, at a checkpoint, while he was driving from `Ain `Arab to Aleppo. They held him incommunicado for 11 days, and during that time transferred him to the branch of Political Security in Damascus. On August 26, 2008, the security services referred him to the Prosecutor’s Office.[107] On May 11, 2009, the Damascus Criminal Court sentenced Tammo to three-and-a-half years in prison for “weakening national sentiment” (article 285 of the penal code) and “broadcasting false or exaggerated news that could affect the morale of the country” (article 286). According to a lawyer for Tammo, the charges related to party documents that were found in his car when he was arrested.[108] Mesh’al al-Tammo’s lawyers reportedly asked to call a total of seven defense witnesses to give evidence at the trial, but the court failed to respond to the request, so none was able to appear.

Six days after detaining Tammo, on August 21, 2008, a police patrol from `Amuda detained Omran al-Sayyed, 47, a member of the public relations bureau of the Kurdish Future Movement, while he was waiting to board a bus. Omran al-Sayyed described his arrest and interrogation:

The civilian police detained me in the town of `Amuda and immediately transferred me to Political Security in al-Hasakeh. They charged me with belonging to the Kurdish Future Movement. They interrogated me for 12 days. During the investigation I was deprived of everything. Their questions focused on the political program of the party, its internal rules, my role in the party, especially after they had kidnapped Mr. Mesh`al Temmo, the official spokesperson for the party.

After the interrogation they referred me on September 1 to a military judge in Qamishli who ordered my detention for belonging to an unlicensed political party and inciting sectarian strife.[109]

During the trial, the military judge focused many of his questions on the actions that al-Sayyed took following the detention of al-Tammo, specifically distributing flyers calling for the release of al-Tammo and putting up pictures of al-Tammo on walls and electric posts.[110] On December 24, 2008, the military judge released him pending the trial outcome. Three weeks later, on January 18, 2009, the judge sentenced him to four months in jail for “inciting sectarian tensions” (article 307 of the penal code) and belonging to an unlicensed secret organization (article 288).[111] Since his release, security services continue to harass him by monitoring his house and calling him periodically for interrogation; he has refused so far to comply with such calls.[112]

In addition to al-Tammo and al-Sayyed, security services have put pressure on two other leading members of the Kurdish Future Movement: the head of its external relations, Khalil Hussein, who has been sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison, and Na`san Sheikh Ahmad, a member in its external relations bureau. Both have gone into hiding.[113]

Azadi (Freedom) Party

There are currently at least seven members of Azadi in detention in Syria, including its current general secretary, Mustapha Bakr Jum`a.

On October 26, 2008, at 11 p.m., a patrol from Military Intelligence detained Sa`dun Mahmud Sheikho, 43, member of the command council of the Azadi party, from his house in Ra’s al-`Ain.[114] Around an hour later, another patrol from Military Intelligence in the town of Rumeilan detained Muhammad Sa`id Husein al-`Omar, 54, also a member of the Azadi command council, from his home and took some of his papers and computer. A relative of Muhammad Sa`id al-`Omar described his arrest:

They [Military Intelligence] came and took him from the house at 12:15 at night in Rumeilan. It was because he was in the Azadi party. The second day, he was transferred to Qamishli, where they held him for 15 days. After that, they took him to their branch in Aleppo for five days and then to the Palestine Branch in Damascus, where he spent three months. During that time, there were no visits allowed. They transferred him to `Adra prison on February 10, 2009. It was only then that we were able to visit him.[115]

Sa`dun Sheikho also ended up in `Adra. A relative of Sheikho told Human Rights Watch that they were able to see him twice in the prison but that the visits were limited to 10 minutes and that they were unable to hold private conversations because of the presence of guards.[116] Accordingly, his family could not say whether he was ill-treated: “We were unable to ask him these questions.” But, they said, “He spent 15 days in solitary confinement and 3 months in investigation in various branches of the security services. Do you know anyone who spends that amount of time in Syrian jails without being abused?”[117]

Three months after detaining Sheikho and al-`Omar, on January 10, 2009, the Palestine Branch of Military Intelligence detained Mustapha Jum`a, 62, the acting general secretary of the Azadi party.[118] They had questioned him repeatedly in the days leading up to his arrest.[119] Military Intelligence held him in incommunicado detention for almost a month. On February 8 they finally transferred him from the Palestine Branch to `Adra prison, from where he was able to contact his family.[120]

On February 10, 2009, the public prosecutor charged all three men with “weakening national sentiment” (article 285 of the penal code), establishing an “organization with the aim of changing the financial or social status of the state (article 306) and inciting sectarian strife (article 307).[121] Their case is ongoing.

The campaign of harassment of Azadi’s leadership continues to date. Since Mustapha Jum`a’s detention, Bashar Ameen `Ali, 61, a member of the political bureau of Azadi, has become in charge of managing the party. He told Human Rights Watch that he has had to go into hiding because “Military Intelligence has come to my house multiple times since April 23.”[122]

The Security services have also detained lower-ranking Azadi activists. Air Force Intelligence on April 2, 2008, arrested Kais Ahmad Ali,[123] and on May 3 it detained three other young men, Bahruz Yusef, Hussein Biro Mulla Darwish, and Humam Haddad. Three of the four young men were Azadi members. Haddad and Yusef had also participated in an internet training program organized by Front Line, an international human rights organization, in Amman, Jordan.[124] Haddad was released after two days, but the other three were kept in detention. One of them described his ordeal to Human Rights Watch:

Air Force intelligence detained us for 25 days. They were hard with us. They beat me. Sometimes they would beat me with their hands and sometimes with a baton on the soles of my feet [falqa]. After that, they referred us to State Security in Damascus, where we spent two months and two days. We were then released.

They detained us without any access to the outside world. We did not see our families or a lawyer. After our release, we had to go visit the security services over a period of 10 months. But since then, it has been OK.[125]

Another commented,

They would not allow anyone to visit me and would threaten anyone who tried to reach me by saying that this would harm me. I still get called in for questioning. And to this day, I am banned from traveling. Even my landlord asked me to leave my apartment once he heard about my detention.[126]

All three were eventually released without charge: Kays Ali in June 2008, and Bahruz Yusef and Hussein Darwish on July 28, 2008.[127] Humam Haddad was detained again from September 7 to 10, 2008, and also released without charge.[128]

Kurdish Left Party in Syria

On July 19, 2008, the Palestine Branch of Military Intelligence detained Muhammad Musa, 57, the general secretary of the Kurdish Left Party in Syria (Hezb al-Yasar al-Kurdi fi Suriyya), after having questioned him for two weeks. Musa told Human Rights Watch that the questioning focused on his activities at the party and specifically around public statements he issued calling for democratic reforms in Syria and his party’s participation in the Damascus Declaration, a coalition of opposition parties. On July 23, 2008, after four days at the Palestine Branch, Military Intelligence referred him to the Military Prosecutor’s Office, which charged him on July 27 with belonging to a “political organization without the permission of the government” and “disrupting ties between the elements of the nation” (articles 288 and 308 of the penal code).[129]

On September 27, 2008 a military judge decided to release Musa pending the trial outcome.[130] However, another security service, Criminal Security (Fer` Jina’i) in Aleppo had a pending interrogation warrant against Musa because they accused him of promoting banned books, and notably a book on Kurds called The Position of Kurdistan in Historical and Geographical Context. On October 2, 2008 Musa appeared before a judge in Aleppo with regard to this new case and denied ownership of the book; the judge reserved judgment in the case and released him on October 5.[131]

On December 3, 2008 the judge in the initial case sentenced Musa to three months in jail on the basis of the two initial charges, but he was spared jail time on the basis of time served. [132] However, on August 9, 2009, security authorities again detained him, and he served the remainder 21 days that he “owed” following his initial detention. They released him on August 31.[133]

On September 3, 2008, during Muhammad Musa’s detention, members of Military Intelligence in Qamishli also detained his nephew, Hozan Sheikhmus Muhammad (known as Hozan Badli), 27, a law student and poet, because he appeared on ANN, an opposition-affiliated TV station, to highlight the detention of his uncle. On September 11 they transferred Hozan to the Palestine Branch of Military Intelligence in Damascus, where they held him incommunicado until they released him on November 4, 2008.[134]

Kurdish Democratic Party KDP-S (al-Party)

On June 19, 2007, State Security detained `Adnan Buzan, a leader in the KDP-S party, from his home on charges of forming an unlicensed political party, inciting sectarian strife, and efforts to cut off part of Syria. State security released him on November 25, after five months and six days in detention.[135]

On August 31, 2008, Military Intelligence detained Muhammad Sa`id al-Sa`id, 31, a member in the KDP-S and a member in the Nareen group of Kurdish Folklore. Al-Sa`id described what happened:

On August 18, troops from Military Intelligence circled my house and shop in Qamishli. They searched my shop and took my computer as well as all the CDs. They then searched my house and took all my books, poems, CDs, and personal documents, and told me to go see them at 7 p.m. I went to see them for 12 consecutive days and after that, Military Intelligence detained me.

After detaining him, Military Intelligence put him in a solitary cell for 11 days. He continued,

The cell was dark and very hot. Their investigation with me focused on the fact that I was an important member of the Kurdish Democratic Party, have contacts with other Kurdish leaders, am active in a Kurdish folklore troop, and am angry with the state. They also accused me of carrying Kurdish flags.

Their main accusation was that I was the author of articles posted on the internet signed by “Pavy Raman” [father of Raman], as I have a son known as Raman. However, this was not true, as I don’t write in Arabic but in Kurdish. They knew it was not me, but they detained me anyway.

They released him on October 12, 2008. Since his release the security services continue to call him in for questioning.[136]

On March 2, 2009, Political Security detained Nasr al-Deen Muhammad Burheik, a member in the political bureau of the KDP-S, for organizing an event in the village square of his home village, Jawadiya, to commemorate the death of Mulla Mustapha Barzani, the primary political and military leader of the Kurdish rebellion in Iraq until his death on March 1, 1979. Burheik told Human Rights Watch,

Political Security came to my house and took me. They kept me in their branch in al-Hasakeh for 21 days, where they treated me like a dog. The cell was small and dirty, and there was little food. I was not beaten, but they beat other people who were with us in the cell, people who were accused of stealing electricity and smuggling. They would insult and humiliate me. As a result of the bad detention conditions I got sick. The security forces transferred me to the hospital under a false name without informing my family.[137]

Security services referred Burheik to a military judge in Qamishli, who charged him with membership in an “illegal political organization.” The judge released him on April 17, and sentenced him on August 9 to three months in jail.[138]

In conjunction with stopping a musical event organized by the KDP-S (al-Party) on March 8, 2009, marking International Women’s Day (see chapter II), the security forces in Qamishli detained senior KDP-S (al-Party) members Faysal Sabri and Fener Jamil Sa`dun. Sabri told Human Rights Watch what happened next:

A police patrol detained us and transferred us to the security services. Our conditions of detention were very difficult. We were in a small room without sun or air ... After a week of being transferred between various units, they referred us to the military judge for prosecution. They charged us with “membership in an unlicensed political party.” We were finally released on April 20, 2009.[139]

While the judge released them, their trial continued. On August 9 a military judge in Qamishli sentenced them to three months in jail for “membership in an unlicensed political party.” They are currently appealing the decision.[140]

PYD ( Hezb al-Ittihad al-dimocrati )

Syria’s security forces have gone after large numbers of members of the PYD (in Arabic, Hezb al-Ittihad al-Dimocrati). This started after Syria signed the 1999 Adana treaty on security cooperation with Turkey but accelerated after March 2004, as one member of PYD put it, because “the authorities suspected that the party was behind a number of demonstrations in Kurdish areas in Syria.”[141] Even when the Syrian president issued an amnesty to those detained following the March 2004 riots in Qamishli, the Syrian authorities excluded a large number of PYD members from the amnesty.[142] In the words of a PYD activist, “our party members are the ones that are most subject to arrest and torture. It is because of Syrian-Turkish relations and because we adopt Öcalan’s ideology.”[143]

While Kurdish political activists are usually tried by a military court, PYD members have been tried before the SSSC. Since 2006 the SSSC has tried at least 24 PYD members, and there are currently at least six PYD members awaiting trial. Most recently, on April 14, 2009, the SSSC sentenced seven PYD members on charges of belonging to a secret organization (article 288 of the penal code) and undertaking “acts... to cut off part of Syrian land to join it to another country” (article 267). The sentences ranged from five to seven years.[144]