Urgent action required.
This is from Amnesty's urgent action team. Please read. Thanks.
Billy Briggs.
SYRIAN KURD DISAPPEARS, RISKS TORTURE
SYRIA
Berzani Karro, who is 20, is now known to have been arrested at
Damascus airport on 27 June. His father has since made numerous
inquiries with the Syrian authorities about his son's fate and
whereabouts, including at a number of detention centres and
prisons around the country, but they have denied holding him in
their custody. One State Security officer in the predominantly
Kurdish north-eastern town where he lives, Amouda, told his father
that his family name alone was enough to have led to him being
arrested: an uncle with the same family name is a prominent member
of the outlawed Kurdish Left Party of Syria (al-Hizb al-Yasari al-
Kurdi fi Suria), and now lives in exile in Sweden.
Berzani Karro had left Syria in October 2006 and travelled to
Cyprus, where he applied for asylum. His application was rejected
and he was arrested in September 2008, on the grounds that he had
no legal right to remain in the country. He was detained in
Larnaca prison until he was returned to Syria. Cypriot officials
escorted him on the plane, and handed him over to the Syrian
authorities at Damascus airport. They first allowed him to make
one phone call to his family, in which he told them he was about
to be taken to the al-Fayha Political Security Branch in Damascus.
Political Security is one of several branches of the security
forces operating in Syria, all of which regularly detain
individuals on even the slightest suspicion of opposition to the
regime. Kurds in Syria are particularly vulnerable to prolonged
arbitrary detention as well as torture and other ill-treatment.
Berzani Karro had been arrested in Amouda on 15 January 2005, when
he was 15. He was held for around two and a half months, for at
least some of the time in the Military Intelligence-run Palestine
Branch detention centre, where detainees are regularly tortured.
He was accused of attending an unauthorized demonstration and
destroying state property, including a statue of the president.
His family say he was at home at the time of the protest. At the
Palestine Branch, he was subjected to the dulab (the tyre),
whereby he was forced through a car tyre suspended from the
ceiling and beaten. There were 10 others detained with him, all of
them under 18.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Those deemed to be in any way associated with Kurdish political
parties or groups that raise concerns about the treatment of Kurds
in Syria are vulnerable to arbitrary arrest and detention and in
many cases to torture or other ill-treatment. In addition, the
authorities impose heavy restrictions on the production and
circulation of Kurdish literature, including books and music. Many
Kurds are denied the full provision of education, employment and
health care, as well as the right to use their own language in
schools and other public places.
Cyprus has signed the UN Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees, which requires that no one shall be "expelled or
returned… in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of
territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on
account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a
particular social group or political opinion."
PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Arabic, English, French or your own
language:
* Urging the authorities to reveal immediately Berzani Karro's
fate and whereabouts;
* Calling on them to release him without delay unless he is to be
charged with a recognizably criminal offence;
* Urging them to ensure that he is protected from torture or other
ill-treatment, is held in an official place of detention and
allowed visits from his family, a lawyer of his choosing and any
medical attention he may require.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS TO: (Time difference = GMT + 2 hrs / BST + 1 hrs)
President
Bashar al-Assad
Presidential Palace
Al-Rashid Street
Damascus
Syrian Arab Republic
Fax: 00 963 11 332 3410
[Salutation: Your Excellency]
Minister of Defence
Lieutenant-General Ali Ben-Mohammed Habib Mahmoud
Ministry of Defence
Omayyad Square
Damascus
Syrian Arab Republic
Fax: 00 963 11 211 9729 / 223 7842
[Salutation: Your Excellency]
And copies to:
Minister of Interior
Major Sa'id Mohammed Sammour
'Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar Street
Damascus
Syrian Arab Republic
Fax: 00 963 11 222 3428
Email: [email protected]
[Salutation: Your Excellency]
PLEASE SEND COPIES OF YOUR APPEAL TO:
His Excellency Dr Sami M Khiyami
Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic
8 Belgrave Square
London SW1X 8PH
Fax: 020 7235 4621
Website: http://syremb.com
PLEASE CHECK WITH THE UK SECTION IF SENDING APPEALS AFTER 6 NOVEMBER 2009.
----------------------------------------------------
SHOULD YOU MENTION AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL IN YOUR APPEALS? The name of
Amnesty International may be used unless otherwise stated in the text above. Letters written in a
private or personal capacity may be more effective.
FAX NUMBER NOT WORKING? Officials will sometimes switch off their fax machines to stop
appeals arriving – please keep trying. If you can't get through, please
put your appeal in the post. If a number is unobtainable please inform the Urgent Action team.
EMAIL ADDRESS NOT WORKING? Please send a copy of the delivery error report to
RECEIVED A REPLY FROM A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL? Please send it or a copy to the
Urgent Action team. If appropriate, thank the official who has replied and ask to be kept informed about the case.
Thanks again for you time.
Billy Briggs.
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