KurdistanObserver.com

Sentences Handed Down Against Kurdish Rebels In Syria

DAMASCUS, Feb 13 (KUNA) -- The Syrian Higher National Security Tribunal on Monday handed down wide-ranging sentences to several Kurds found guilty of belonging to the banned United Kurdistan Democratic Party.

According to the head of a Syrian law research and studies firm, Anwar Al-Bunni, the Kurds included Nejad Mahmoud Abdallah, a Kurdish Iranian, who was sentenced to seven and a half years on charges of conspiring to expropriate Syrian land for the purpose of adding it to foreign land and an Iraqi Kurd, Jawad Atark, who was sentenced to three years as well as Jawan Shamseddine Ibrahim, a Syrian Kurd, who was sentenced for two years for the same charge.

The tribunal postponed to March 16 proceedings against the spokesman for the opposition party, the Democratic National Gathering, Hassan Abdel-Azeem. On that day, he would receive a sentence after his defense attorney made a presentation on behalf of his client.

"The Syrian authorities are determined to continue to repress public freedom and use emergency laws against political and opposition activists," Al-Bunni said.