In Lice district of Diyarbakir Turkish soldiers opened fire on Kurdish villages which left 2 villages dead and one injured, said local sources.

It is reported that Turkish soldiers in an overnight raid on Goma Ahmet hamlet close to Lice Garrison opened fired on villages and as a result Çekdar Kanay and Ferhat Taruk lost their lives and Müslüm Kanay was heavily injured.

While the injured was taken to Dicle University Hospital in Diyarbakir, the bodies of the victims were taken to Lice State Hospital.

Source: ANF, July 2, 2010

Kurdish human rights activist, Ali Heydarian, was arrested in August 2006. Mr. Heydarian was also charged with membership in an illegal Kurdish organization in a show trial – like many other political prisoners in Iran – that denied him access to his own lawyer and in which proper evidence was not provided against him. After 17 months in prison, Heydarian was condemned to death under the charge of Mohareb (Enemy of God) on 29 February 2008. Heydarian was held in Rajai-Shahr Prison near Karaj, where he was psychologically and physically tortured and was constantly denied medical treatment. Ali was executed along with other Kurdish political prisoners on May 9, 2010 in Tehran.

Kerem Gün, former President of the Youth Wing of the banned pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), was shot dead on March 12, 2010, one day after he had been arrested in ??rnak (south-eastern Turkey). Gün allegedly ignored the soldiers’ “warning to stop”. He was supposedly threatened when he had been taken into custody.

Source: Bianet, April 20, 2010

Shirin Alam Hooli was born in the village of Gheshlagh near the city of Maku in Iran. She was arrested in May of 2007 by the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran. She spent the first 25 days of her imprisonment in an unknown location under brutal physical and psychological torture. After that she was scheduled to be transferred to Section 209 of the Evin Prison. However, her poor condition due to the torture she received prompted authorities to first transfer her to Evin’s medical clinic. After she was released from the medical clinic, she was sent to Section 209 where she was held in solitary confinement and subjected to more brutal torture for another six months. Shirin Alam Hooli was later transferred to the women’s ward in Evin Prison. She was pressured to make a televised confession, which she refused to do, but was still sentenced to death on Mohareb (Enemy of God) charges. Authorities claimed that she was a member of an illegal Kurdish organization despite their failure to produce any evidence against her. She was executed along with other Kurdish political prisoners on May 9, 2010 in Tehran.

According to the report by the European Human Rights Organisation Tahir Ahmedi from the city of Xane was arrested by the Intelligent Office due to his alleged involvement with a Kurdish opposition party as well as having a gun in his house.

The report said that last week Mr. Tahir Ahmedi’s body was handed over to his family after 3 months of constant torture.

Source: United States of Kurdistan, April 3, 2010

Jalal Amini was killed after he was shot by security forces in the Posht-Tab district of Mahabad.
According to eyewitnesses, Amini who was armed wounded 3 security forces officers before they killed him. After the incident, intelligence forces took control of some parts of the city and put the residents under surveillance.
According to Rawa News, there were also clashes between the residents and the security forces in the Biloo region near Mahabad. The clashes happened while a large number of people were picnicking in Biloo and other popular picnic spots on the April 2nd (13 Bedar) holiday.

Source: RAHANA, April 3, 2010

Reports coming out of Syria indicate that intelligence security forces have opened fire on Kurds celebrating Norouz on March 21, 2010 in the town of Ar-Raqqah in Northern Syria.

According to Kurdish reports, 15 minutes into the celebration members of the Baath party arrived at the location where Kurds have gathered to celebrate the holiday with flags and posters of the Syrian president. The Baath members provoked the Kurds, and for no reason security forced fired tear gas at the crowd and opened fire. The shooting resulted in the death of two young men, injuring 41 people. Several of the wounded were arrested. The name of one of the young men killed is Reports coming out of Syria indicate that intelligence security forces have opened fire on Kurds celebrating Norouz yesterday in the town of Ar-Raqqah in Northern Syria.

According to Kurdish reports, 15 minutes into the celebration members of the Baath party arrived at the location where Kurds have gathered to celebrate the holiday with flags and posters of the Syrian president. The Baath members provoked the Kurds, and for no reason security forced fired tear gas at the crowd and opened fire. The shooting resulted in the death of two young men, injuring 41 people. Several of the wounded were arrested. The name of one of the young men killed is Mohammed Omar Haider; he died from his injuries at the hospital. The names of the other killed are unknown.

The human rights organizations Supports Kurds in Syria (SKS), Human Rights Organization in Syria (MAF), Kurdish organization for the defence of human rights and public freedoms in Syria (DAD), and the Kurdish Committee for Human Rights in Syria al-Rased have called on Syria to immediately investigate the shooting. The Alliance for Kurdish Rights joins this call.; he died from his injuries at the hospital. The names of the other killed are unknown.

The human rights organizations Supports Kurds in Syria (SKS), Human Rights Organization in Syria (MAF), Kurdish organization for the defence of human rights and public freedoms in Syria (DAD), and the Kurdish Committee for Human Rights in Syria al-Rased have called on Syria to immediately investigate the shooting. The Alliance for Kurdish Rights joins this call.

The widow of slain Kurdish politician Vedat Aydin accused JiTEM of being responsible for her husband’s murder.
Iükran Aydin, the wife of a murdered Kurdish politician, broke her silence 19 years after the killing of her husband, Vedat Aydin, and told Today’s Zaman that a clandestine unit within the gendarmerie was responsible for the murder.

Vedat Aydin, the Diyarbakir branch chairman of the now-defunct People’s Labor Party (HEP), was found dead on a road near Malatya on July 7, 1991. Aydin’s murder is believed to have been committed by an illegal organization inside the gendarmerie known as JiTEM, which exploited the vast powers granted it as part of counterterrorism efforts to terrorize locals and control and participate in illegal commercial activity in the region.

Aydin’s murder marks one of the critical turning points of Turkey’s long-standing Kurdish problem as the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) used the murder to win support in Turkey’s Southeast and gained prominence in the region thanks to the murder of Aydin, a renowned figure.

Aydin’s wife, iükran Aydin, said Aydin was taken away by armed men with wireless communication devices who identified themselves as the police on July 5, 1991. Thousands of people disappeared in the ‘90s in the Kurdish-dominated Southeast and some eastern cities of the country in a similar manner. She said it was the last time she saw her husband alive. After her husband left the house, Aydin said she contacted the Diyarbakir Police Department to ask about her husband’s situation but was told that he was not at the police station. No state institutions in Diyarbakir were able to find any information on the whereabouts of Aydin until his body was found on the Ergani-Maden road two days after he went missing.

When Aydin’s body was discovered, his head was smashed, and there were eight bullets in his body. He was immediately buried by the Maden Municipality, and it was later discovered that it was Aydin’s body. After examinations were conducted, Aydin was re-buried on July 10, 1991. Unidentified people opened fire on the crowd attending Aydin’s funeral, leaving three people dead and injuring many others.

Source: Today’s Zaman, March 2, 2010

A Syrian human rights source has reported the death of the Syrian Kurdish citizen Mohammed Misto Rasheed (Ifreen/Aleppo) as a result of the torture he was subjected to in Aleppo Central Prison.

Mr. Mohammed Masto Rasheed was arrested approximately four months ago. He was subjected to severe torture whilst detained to the extent that he was transferred to the Al-Hamiyaat hospital in Aleppo as a result. Four days after his transferral he was returned to prison and his death was announced on the 19/1/2010. The source reported that the victim was not known to be involved in any activities, and the reason for his arrest is unknown.

Syrian Human Rights Committee
12/2/2010

At least four Kurdish citizens were shot and killed or injured by security forces in the Western part of the country.

Kurdish Committee of HRA reports that at around January 4 and 5, as a result of shooting by security forces towards border residents, at least four citizens were killed and injured.

According to reports from January 4, in the area of “Baleh Soor”, a region of Aland, as a result of shooting by security forces in said region, a Kurdish citizen named Mohsen (last name unknown) was killed instantly. Likewise, on the same date, in the border region of “Haj Omran” another citizen named Samkoo (last name unknown) was hit by a bullet shot by security forces and severely injured.

The above report adds that on January 5, in the border area of “Mir Omar”, a region of Ghotoor Shahre Khoy also a group of Kurdish citizens became the shooting targets of security forces, as a result of which, two Kurdish citizens by the names of Jafar Babazadeh and Ebrahim (last name unknown) were murdered.

It is important to note that security forces misuse the cover of the war on drugs and smuggling to engage in direct shooting of citizens in the name of stakeouts, patrols and border control. In most instances negligence, undue use of deadly force and disregard of the law lead to use of weapons which cause the murder of border citizens.

Source: Human Rights Activists in Iran, January 12, 2010