DUBAI - A number of Kurdish political activists have been arrested in Syria, particularly in a town where deadly disturbances took place last year, a Kurdish political leader told Al-Arabiya television Thursday.
"Numerous members of Kurdish parties have been arrested," said Hassen Saleh, chief of the Yakiti party. Saleh, who did not give any details, told Al-Arabiya he was speaking from the northeastern town of Qamishli, on the Turkish border.
In March 2004, clashes pitted Kurdish protestors against Syrian security forces and Arab tribes in Qamishli and Aleppo. The Kurds said 40 people died, while the Syrian authorities gave a death toll of 25.
Hundreds of Kurds were arrested following the disturbances. On March 30 of this year, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered all of them released.
Saleh said this "campaign of arrests ... is taking place despite the presidential pardon."
He added that the pardon had not been fully carried out, and that "more than 100 Kurds still remain in prison.
Saleh added that he was concerned for the fate of a Kurdish Muslim dignitary, Sheikh Mohammed Maashuq al-Jaznawi, who has not been heard from since leaving the Islamic studies centre in Damascus two days ago.
Syria is home to some 1.5 million Kurds, around nine percent of the population. They are fighting to have their language, culture and political rights recognised.
05/12/2005 19:41 GMT