Welcoming release of Syrian detainees, a call for releasing others
Syria, Politics, 4/2/2005

The Human Rights Society in Syria welcomed the decision taken by the Syrian authorities on Wednesday to release 312 Kurdish detainees and called for the release of all political detainees in the country which it said that some of them has been in detention for 20 years.

For its part, the Syrian Organization For Human Rights "Sawaseyah" described the decision of the Syrian authorities as positive and urging it to issue a general pardon for all political detainees and the prisoners of opinions.

According to estimates made by human rights societies, there are still between 1500- 2000 prisoners in the Syrian jails.

Syria Kurdish officials described the release of the detainees as appositive step and the Syrian Kurdish politicians Omar Ousi demanded in a statement to al-Jazeera TV for more positive steps to restore back the positions of the Syrian Kurds to where it had been before the incidents of al-Qamishli governorate and offering them the Syrian nationality which they were deprived off in the statistics of 1962.

Confrontations took place on March 12-17-2004 on the one hand and the Syrian security forces and Arab tribes in Aleppo, al-Qamishli, and al-Hassaka which are situated to the north and north east of the capital Damascus and other areas, on the other hand. These confrontations resulted in killing 40 Kurds, according to the Kurdish sources and 25 killed according to Syrian official sources.

In a separate legal case, the Syrian authorities released on Thursday two university students after the Syrian state security court earlier sentenced them to three year imprisonment over protesting against a government decision.

Previous Stories:
  Syrian official protest against false accusations from Iraq   (4/1/2005)
  Al-Assad Pardons 312 detainees in north east Syria riots   (3/31/2005)
  Kurdish parties in Syria defy banning decision   (6/16/2004)

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