Syrian authorities arrest two Kurdish leaders

Damascus: Syrian authorities have arrested two Kurdish leaders, charging one with a capital offence, as part of a campaign to curb political dissidents.

The National Organisation of Human Rights in Syria said Talal Mohammad of the banned Wifaq party, an offshoot of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which is also active in Turkey and Iraq, was arrested without warrant in northeastern Syria last week and not heard from since.
Mashaal Tammo, an official in Future Movement, a banned opposition party which advocates democracy, was arrested earlier and charged on August 27 with committing aggression and arming Syrians to start civil war, a capital offence.

Before his arrest, Tammo, who renounces violence, said Syrian policy towards Kurds risked a repeat of riots that killed 30 people in Syria in 2004.
Tammo has denied the charges and human rights lawyer Mohannad Al Hassani said it would require a great deal of evidence to prove that Tammo had wanted to start civil war.

"The authorities cannot resort to such fearsome charges just because they disagree with someone's opinions," he said.

A US State Department spokesman denounced Tammo's arrest: "We condemn the detention of Tammo and other Syrian prisoners of conscience and call for their immediate release."

"We encourage the international community to join us in calling on the Syrian government to stop its policy of arresting critics of the regime and to comply with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."