AFP (via Gulf Times) reports:
A Damascus military court jailed 50 Kurds for between four and six months after a 2005 protest calling for a probe into the death of a Kurdish scholar, a Syrian human rights group said yesterday.
The demonstration in the northeastern town of Qamishli had demanded an independent inquiry into the death of [...]
Reported by the AFP:
DAMASCUS (AFP) — The Syrian authorities have arrested three people, including the brother of the head of a banned Kurdish political group who has been in detention since July, a human rights group said on Saturday.
The National Organisation of Human Rights in Syria accused the authorities of “arbitrary arrests” and urged them [...]
Reported by the AFP:
DAMASCUS (AFP) — Syrian authorities have blocked access to 160 dissident websites since 2000 as part of a drive to censure the press and control Internet use, a free speech organisation said on Tuesday.
Security services have stopped access to “160 sites run by Kurdish political parties, opposition groups, newspapers — particularly from [...]
Reuters correspondent, Khaled Yacoub Oweis, reports:
DAMASCUS, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Syrian authorities have arrested two Kurdish leaders and charged one with a capital offence, as part of a campaign to crush political dissidents that has triggered international protests.
The two men were arrested ahead of a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to the Syrian capital [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) recommends that engagement with Syria should include human rights:
Western countries looking to increase engagement with Syria should know that Syrian authorities continue to arrest, try, and harass political and human rights activists, Human Rights Watch said today. In May 2008, Syrian authorities detained a political writer, began the trial of two [...]
The Agence France-Presse reports on a statement by the National Organization of Human Rights in Syria regarding the recent arrest of a pro-Kurdish political party chief. Mohammed Mussa was arrested in Syria under special emergency laws after expressing his party’s views to the Arab media.
Damascus (AFP) - The head of a banned Kurdish political group [...]
Reuters reports from Beirut:
Syrian authorities said on Sunday they had restored order at a military jail near Damascus after a riot, but dissidents said the protest was not over and that dozens of prisoners had been killed.
The riot broke out on Saturday at Sidnaya prison, a huge complex 30 km (19 miles) northwest of the [...]
Human Rights Watch released a report yesterday documenting that the Syrian authorities continue to arrest, try, and harass political and human rights activists. Amidst increasing calls in Western countries to increase diplomatic engagement with Syrian authorities, Human Rights Watch urged that “an improvement in the treatment of these activists be at the heart of any [...]
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 [...]
From Kurdish Aspect:
Syrian Forces suppress more Kurdish Festivals on May Day
Syrian authorities prepared to break up another Kurdish celebration, this time marking May Day or International Workers’ Day. Security forces confronted Kurdish celebrators in the city of Ayn al-Arab (Kurdish: Kobane) using tear gas and fired live bullets over the heads of the celebrators. There [...]
