Far From Justice - Human Rights Watch

state’s laws are not criminals. A lawyer who frequently represents defendants before theSSSC framed it well:There are some extremist currents in Syria, but as an observer, I say that thepercentage of such groups that have a minimum of organizational supportdoes not go beyond the 2 to 3% of the detainees before the SSSC. The resthave no connection with any organized or ideological movement and theirrelationship with religion is simply a cultural issue. 149D. Criminalizing Kurdish ActivismA review of cases before the SSSC shows that the most common accusation against Kurdishactivists is undertaking “acts, speech, writings or other means to cut off part of Syrian landto join it to another country” (Art. 267 of the Penal Code). Human Rights Watch’s researchshows that since 2004 the SSSC has applied this provision to sentence at least 16 SyrianKurds who undertook peaceful activities to demand increased autonomy and culturalrecognition for Kurds in Syria.Sentencing of Two Leaders of Yekiti Party for PetitionIn February 2004, the SSSC convicted two leaders in the unauthorized Kurdish Yekiti party,Hassan Saleh and Marwan `Uthman, on charges of attempting “to cut-off part of Syrian landto join it to another country.” They were sentenced to three years,’ which the court laterreduced to 14 months. 150Syrian security forces had arrested the men on December 15, 2002, five days after their partyhad staged a sit-in outside the Syrian National Assembly; they had tried to deliver astatement to the President of the National Assembly calling on the Syrian regime to "removethe barriers imposed on the Kurdish language and culture and recognize the existence of theKurdish nationality within the unity of the country.” 151149 Human Rights Watch e-mail from Syrian lawyer C.C., October 8, 2008.150 For more information on this case, see “Syria: Release three prisoners of conscience,” Amnesty International PressRelease, February 20, 2004, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE24/014/2004/en/dom-MDE240142004en.html(accessed October 20, 2008); Amnesty International, “Kurds in the Syrian Arab Republic one year after the March 2004events,” March 10, 2005, AI Index: MDE 24/002/2005.151 "Kurds protest outside Syrian parliament against discrimination," Agence France-Presse, December 10, 2002,http://home.cogeco.ca/~konews/11-12-02-kurds-protest-outside-syrian-parli.html (accessed October 20, 2008).43 Human Rights Watch February 2009