HUMAN RIGHTS ROUND-UP: 2004 QAMISHLI RIOTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 001219

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

LONDON FOR TSOU, PARIS FOR ZEYA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/21/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SY
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS ROUND-UP: 2004 QAMISHLI RIOTS
COMMEMORATED THROUGHOUT SYRIA; UPDATE ON QURRABI RELEASE;
WAVE OF DETENTIONS CONTINUES

REF: A) DAMASCUS 1107 B) DAMASCUS 1108

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Stephen A. Seche for reasons 1.4(b)/(d
)


1. (C) 2004 QAMISHLI RIOTS COMMEMORATED THROUGHOUT SYRIA:
On March 12, Kurds throughout Syria observed the second
anniversary of the 2004 Qamishli riots. Luqman Ois, an Azadi
Party activist and member of the Kurdish Committee for Human
Rights, told Poloff that a number of activities took place:
the observation of five minutes of silence by all Kurds
throughout Syria; peaceful gatherings at Kurdish cemeteries
in Qamishli, Hassekeh, and Afrin; as well as demonstrations
in Damascus at the Prime Minister's Office and Damascus
University. In Qamishli, members of the leadership councils
of the Azadi and Yekiti parties and the recently formed
Future Movement, all Kurdish organizations, gave speeches. A
son of the late Sheikh Mashook Khaznawi also spoke, as did
Arab civil society activist and former political detainee Ali
al-Abdullah. A four-person delegation of Finnish, Canadian,
and Norwegian diplomats traveled to Qamishli to observe the
events. Kurdish sources estimated that 15,000 people
attended the Qamishli gathering; a Norwegian diplomat present
at the event told Poloff that 5,000 participants is more
accurate. According to both the Norwegian diplomat and Ois,
as the event concluded and the crowds began to disperse, riot
police used tear gas and shot into the air to control
movement. The Norwegian diplomat speculated that the police
were trying to provoke a reaction from the Kurdish masses.
However, there were no reports of violence or of any arrests
in Qamishli. In Afrin, a similar gathering was held at a
Kurdish cemetery, during which Yekiti and Azadi party
leadership also gave speeches. There were unconfirmed
reports of five arrests taking place in Afrin.


2. (C) A number of other commemorative meetings and events
took place in Damascus, in addition to the demonstration
reported in ref A. According to human rights activist Anwar
al-Bunni, as of March 20, three of the March 12 demonstrators
remain imprisoned. According to Ois and human rights activist
Abdulkarim al-Rihawi, three Kurdish political leaders,
Kheiruddin Murad (Azadi Party),Ismail Omar (Kurdish
Democratic Unity/Yekiti),and Aziz Daoud (The Kurdish
Progressive Democratic Party) met for one hour with an
unidentified general in the Prime Minister's Office. The
general asked for Kurdish demands, which the three party
representatives listed as: a court trial of SARG officials
responsible for the 2004 Qamishli events; the return to
school/university of Kurdish students expelled for their
political activities; and a "democratic solution for Kurdish
linguistic, cultural, and national issues." A smaller
protest was also held at Damascus University, where Kurdish
students conducted a small "stand-in" demonstration, asking
for expelled students to be allowed to return. No arrests
were reported at Damascus University.


3. (C) UPDATE ON AMMAR QURRABI: During his four-day
detention following his return from the U.S. and Europe (ref
B),Ammar Qurrabi was treated "respectfully" by his SMI
interrogators, according to human rights activist Anwar
al-Bunni. Bunni, who has seen Qurrabi a number of times
since his release, added that the SMI questions focused
mainly on Qurrabi's participation in opposition conferences
in the U.S. and Paris. Authorities told Qurrabi that his
case would be forwarded to the Supreme State Security Court
(SSSC) for trial. Bunni, however, doubts that such a
prosecution is likely, as authorities rarely release SSSC
defendants prior to or during trial. However, the door does
remain open for a military or criminal court prosecution.


4. (C) DETENTIONS CONTINUE: Meanwhile, detentions of civil
society activists are continuing. The number of student
activists detained within the last six weeks has grown to
eight, as Diab Sarir and Omar Abdullah, son of Atassi Forum
activist and former political detainee Ali Abdullah, have
been detained by Air Force Security (SAFI) officials since
March 18. Before their detentions, Sarir and Abdullah had
been subjected to daily interrogations by SAFI since
mid-February. According to Bunni, Abdullah's father had made
inquiries with various security service branches about the
fate of his son and was informed that all eight students
would be facing trial. It remained unclear, however, which
court system would have jurisdiction over the case. Bunni
also noted that regime critic Abdul Razzaq Id had been
detained overnight on March 16 at the Syrian Military
Intelligence Palestinian Branch, and was later released on
March 17. Bunni added that two of the March 9 demonstrators
remained in detention.





SECHE