Amnesty International: PYD rule violates human rights
by Daily Sabah
ISTANBULSep 09, 2015 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Daily Sabah
Sep 09, 2015 12:00 am
According to an Amnesty International report on Monday, the PKK-affiliated Democratic Union Party (PYD)-led autonomous administration in northern Syria is applying pressure by unlawfully detaining and unfairly trying peaceful critics and civilians with the pretext of fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).
According to the report, the PYD-led administration arbitrarily detained civilians for periods of up to a year without charge or trial and denied basic rights, including the right to defend themselves, to see evidence used against them or access to a lawyer.
Those who prepared the report interviewed 10 detainees at two prisons in the PYD-controlled areas of Qamishli and Malikiya. The report says: "Out of five detainees convicted on terrorism grounds the interviewed four said they had been sentenced after grossly unfair trials without any substantiated evidence of their guilt."
"The PYD-led autonomous administration cannot use their fight against terrorism as an excuse to violate the rights of individuals in areas under their control," said Lama Fakih, senior crisis advisor at Amnesty International, and added: "It is clear that many detainees have faced grossly unjust trials in a serious violation of their rights. Everyone should have the right to defend themselves before fair courts. Instead of trampling all over people's rights in the name of security and counterterrorism the PYD-led administration should ensure that the rights of detainees are respected."
Violations of human rights under the pretext of fighting ISIS is not a new issue for the PYD. Reportedly in June, the PYD's People's Protection Units (YPG) along with a contingent from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) took control of Tal Abyad from ISIS. The operation against ISIS in Tal Abyad raised concerns in Ankara, while it purportedly aimed to push ISIS militants out, it allegedly also forced ethnic Turkmens and Arabs out, leading them to evacuate the town. On the same day, more than a dozen Syrian opposition groups urged the PYD in Syria to stop committing "ethnic cleansing" of Arabs and Turkmens in northern Syria while Turkish officials raised concerns over purported ethnic cleansing by the PYD and YPG.
Turkmen leaders, who have been struggling to survive in the 130-kilometer corridor from Gaziantep province of Turkey to Aleppo for a long time, spoke to Daily Sabah in July and declared their support for a possible safe-zone designed by Turkey, adding that a safe zone established on the border will also ruin the PYD's dream of founding a state.
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