Urgent Action 10-6-09

URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA

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http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
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For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa26709.pdf

06 October 2009

UA 267/09 Risk of torture

SYRIA Khaled Kenjo (m)

A Syrian Kurdish man has been held without access to the outside world for over three weeks after he was forcibly returned from Germany to Syria. He is in grave danger of torture.

Khaled Kenjo, aged 31, was detained by Syrian State Security in Qamishli, north-eastern Syria, on 13 September, 12 days after he was forcibly returned to Syria from Germany.

He was returned to Syria on 1 September after his application for asylum in Germany, which he made in 2002, was refused.

After his return to Syria he was summoned to attend the State Security office in Qamishli, which he did on 13 September. He never returned home and has not been heard from since. State 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 government. According to reports obtained by Amnesty International, Khaled Kenjo was transferred to the Damascus branch of State Security around 25 September. However, the Syrian authorities have not confirmed his whereabouts.

Khaled Kenjo’s brother, Ahmad Ma’mu Kenjo, died of a brain hemorrhage in 2004, a few months after he was beaten by members of Syrian security forces while held incommunicado. Another brother, Husayn Kenjo, was also detained in 2004 for around 16 months on charges connected with his alleged involvement in Kurdish protests and riots (see Additional Information).

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Kurds in Syria are vulnerable to prolonged arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment, particularly if they are deemed to be associated with Kurdish political parties or groups raising concerns about the treatment of Kurds in Syria. Even family members of those perceived to be Kurdish activists may be subjected to arrest and incommunicado detention.

On 12 March 2004, clashes between rival Arab and Kurdish supporters at a football match in Qamishli, north-eastern Syria, resulted in several deaths – all believed to have resulted from the use of live bullets by the security forces. The following day mourners attending funerals of the dead were fired upon by members of the security forces, reportedly causing further fatalities and injuries. Two days of protests and riots followed in Qamishli and other largely Kurdish populated towns in the north and north-east. At least 36 people were killed in total, all of them apparently by the security forces; almost all those killed were Kurds. Over 100 people were injured. More than 2,000 people, mainly Kurds, were believed to have been arrested in the wake of the events. No official investigation is known to have been carried out into the use of lethal force by the security forces during these events, nor the widespread reports of torture and other ill-treatment of those detained at the time, including children, women and men, some of them elderly.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Urging the authorities to reveal immediately Khaled Kenjo’s whereabouts and to take all measures to ensure he is not tortured or otherwise ill-treated;
- Urging them to give him immediate access to his family, a lawyer of his choosing and any medical assistance he may need;
- Calling on them to release him without delay unless he is to be charged with a recognizably criminal offense

APPEALS TO:

President
Bashar al-Assad
Presidential Palace
al-Rashid Street
Damascus
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
Fax: 011 963 11 332 3410
Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Defense
Lieutenant-General Ali Ben-Mohammed Habib Mahmoud
Ministry of Defence
Omayyad Square
Damascus
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
Fax: 011 963 11 223 7842
Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:

Minister of Interior
Major Sa’id Mohamed Samour
Ministry of Interior
‘Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar Street
Damascus
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
Fax: 011 963 11 222 3428
Email: somi@net.sy
Salutation: Your Excellency

Ambassador Dr Imad Moustapha
Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic
2215 Wyoming Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 234 9548 OR
1 202 265 4585 OR
1 202 232 4357 OR
Email: info@syrembassy.net

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 17 November 2009.

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This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.

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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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