Alliance for Kurdish Rights (AKR) is concerned for the well-being and safety of civilians in the Kurdistan Federal Region in Iraq after months of heavy bombardments by the Turkish and Iranian militaries. On May 4th, 2008, the LA Times reported the destruction of another border village town, Rezga, as a result of cross-border airstrikes and [...]
Released by the Kurdish Institute of Paris:
Sign the petition by clicking here.
We, the undersigned, declare that we are Kurds and that we want to be recognised as such, to live in dignity as Kurds in the land of our ancestors and to express our culture freely.
Since the creation of the Turkish Republic, the Kurdish people, [...]
The state of emergency, in force since 1963, continued to give security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention. Freedom of expression and association were severely restricted. Hundreds of people were arrested and hundreds of others remained imprisoned for political reasons, including prisoners of conscience and others sentenced after unfair trials. Human rights defenders were [...]
In the wake of increased political uncertainty and army interventions, nationalist sentiment and violence increased. Freedom of expression continued to be restricted. Allegations of torture and other ill-treatment and the use of excessive force by law enforcement officials persisted. Prosecutions for violations of human rights were ineffective and insufficient, and fair trial concerns persisted. The [...]
Source: AFP
Medics in Iraqi Kurdistan said on Saturday that they had seen a surge in violence against women in May, with both so-called “honour” killings and female suicides on the increase.
“At least 14 women died in the first 10 days of May alone,” a doctor told AFP in the region’s second largest city of Sulaimaniyah.
“Seven [...]
Special Report from Kurdish Aspect:
A Kurdish Youth is shot by Iranian Security Forces and is left to die bleeding
A disturbing video has appeared on Youtube of Iranian Pasdarans of the Islamic Republic [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)] wrapping the body of an alive Kurdish teenager at a remote location in Piranshar in Iranian Kurdistan. [...]
From Reporters Without Borders…
Reporters Without Borders condemns the 11 April decision of a criminal court in Sanandaj, in Iran’s northwestern Kurdish region, to close the Kurdish-language daily [Rojhelat] for good on the grounds that it had received money from abroad. The court took the position that it broke the law by selling copies across the [...]
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL LONDON
AI Index: EUR 44/007/2008
Health concern/ill-treatment
Fifteen-year-old Cuneyt Ertus was arrested by police after Newroz (New Year) demonstrations on 22 March in the south-eastern city of Hakkari. He was apparently ill-treated during and after his arrest and is currently being held on remand at Bitlis Prison. He has been charged with offences including [...]
On Tuesday, March 25th, 2008, the Islamic Republic’s revolutionary court sentenced 7 Kurdish detainees to 3 years imprisonment in the city of Baneh, located in the Iranian Kurdistan region, for their participation in general demonstrations throughout Iranian Kurdistan in 2005 as reported to KurdishMedia.com by the communiqué, which is issued by the Kurdistan Democratic Party [...]
