News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International
AI Index: MDE 24/053/2004 11 August 2004
Syria: The authorities must investigate deaths in detention and end torture and ill-treatment
Amnesty International is seriously concerned to learn of the deaths of two Syrian Kurds in one week, both reportedly
following torture and ill-treatment in detention by the security forces. The deaths fit into a pattern of torture and
ill-treatment of detainees in Syria’s prisons and detention centres.
Ahmad Ma’mu Kenjo, a 37-year-old father of three, is reported to have died on 3 August from a brain haemorrhage
resulting from severe head injuries received in a beating by a security patrol in Ras al-‘Ayn, north-eastern Syria, in
late March, and by further beatings to the head sustained while detained incommunicado at an unknown location during
April and May. The initial head wound - reportedly perpetrated by officers of Military Intelligence (al-Mukhabarat
al-‘Askariya) or of Political Security (al-Amn al-Siyassi) - was said to have caused severe head pains and serious brain
damage - as a result of which he was released. He died at home. It is believed that Ahmad Ma’mu Kenjo was never charged
with an offence; however, his brother Husayn Kenjo is currently held in ‘Adra Prison, near Damascus, on charges
connected to his alleged involvement in the Qamishli events in mid-March.
On 1 or 2 August, Ahmad Husayn Hasan (named in some reports as Ahmad Husayn Husayn) reportedly died in custody at the
Military Intelligence Branch in al-Hasaka, also in north-eastern Syria, having been detained incommunicado since his
arrest on 13 July. Ahmad Husayn Hasan, a father of four, was from al-Malikiye (known as Deyrek in Kurdish) near the
borders with Iraq and Turkey, and is believed to have died due to torture. Military Intelligence officers told Ahmad
Husayn Hasan’s family that his body was buried at Tel Ma’teb cemetery, without allowing anyone to see the body or to
have a post-mortem conducted. It is believed that Ahmad Husayn Hasan was never charged with an offence. He was
reportedly a sympathiser of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, on organisation closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK).
The above cases fit in with a consistent pattern of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by the Syrian security
forces, and reports of increasing ill-treatment of Kurdish detainees, including children, since March. In 2004 alone,
Amnesty International has received information on the deaths in custody of eight Syrians, of whom five were Syrian
Kurds. No investigation is known to have been carried out into the deaths.
Amnesty International calls on the Syrian authorities to establish an independent and impartial investigation into the
deaths of Ahmad Ma’mu Kenjo and Ahmad Husayn Hasan, and into all recent deaths in custody in accordance with
international standards. Amnesty International also calls upon the authorities to prosecute anyone found responsible for
torture and ill-treatment, and to compensate the families of those who died as a result of torture and ill-treatment.
Background
Amnesty International has documented 38 different types of torture and ill-treatment reportedly used against detainees
in prisons and detention centres in Syria. It is believed that most of these forms of torture and ill-treatment continue
to be used, and indeed that new methods are being used.
Syria in the AI Report 2004:
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