Rights Groups Report Crackdown on Al-Jazeera Kurds
Syria Media Report, 17-March-09
Tuesday, 17 March, 2009
Rights Groups Report Crackdown on Al-Jazeera Kurds
Syria Media Report, 17-March-09
Tuesday, 17 March, 2009
Syrian authorities cancelled all celebrations planned to commemorate International Women’s Day in the Kurdish town of Al-Jazeera, according to several human rights organisations.
The Kurdish Organisation for Human Rights reported that security officials used the event as an excuse to crack down on the area’s Kurds.
The group released a statement alleging that authorities had raided planned celebration sites and announced that anyone found attending one of the previously organised parties or concerts would be arrested.
The security services also cracked down on singing in the Kurdish language, it said.
Seven opposition Kurdish political parties signed a letter on March 11, condemning the actions.
Meanwhile, the Kurdish Organisation for the Defence of Human Rights and General Freedoms in Syria released a statement on its website decrying the alleged arrest of a dozen Kurdish students at Aleppo University on March 14.
