Kurds committed abuses in Syria - rights group
| Beirut
Kurds in parts of聽northern Syria聽have carried out arbitrary arrests and failed to investigate the killings and disappearance of political opponents, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday in a report documenting rights abuses.
The聽Democratic Union Party (PYD), an offshoot of the聽Kurdistan Workers' Party聽(PKK) in neighboringTurkey, has run three Kurdish enclaves in聽northern Syria聽since 2012, when Syrian government forces withdrew from the areas.
The PYD, which runs a local administration with courts, prisons, and police, could not be immediately reached by Reuters for comment on the report, which said the party had denied holding political prisoners.
In its first full report on the Kurdish enclaves, Human Rights Watch said it had found that children had been recruited into the PYD's police force and armed wing. Kurdish opposition members have also been convicted in unfair trials and detainees have complained of abuse, the New York-based rights group said.
The Kurds,聽Syria's largest minority group and long oppressed by聽Damascus, have been largely left to their own devices by the聽army聽of Syrian President聽Bashar al-Assad. Both government troops and PYD security forces are battling Islamist groups such as the Nusra Front and the Islamic State in聽Iraq聽and theLevant聽(ISIL), whose fighters overran parts of聽Iraq聽last week
"The Kurdish-run areas of聽Syria聽are quieter than war-torn parts of the country, but serious abuses are still taking place," said聽Nadim Houry, the group's deputy聽Middle East聽and聽North Africa聽director. "The PYD is firmly in charge, and can halt the abuse."
Human Rights Watch聽has also reported serious human rights abuses by the聽Syrian government聽and other opposition fighters in the country since 2011. Some of those acts amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, it says.
"While the human rights abuses committed by the PYD and its security forces are far less egregious and widespread, they are nonetheless serious," the report said.
Human Rights Watch聽said its representatives visited two prisons in the Jazira area in February this year and had unrestricted access to officials and prisoners as part of its research for the report.
It said the harassment and arbitrary arrest of the PYD's Kurdish political rivals was the biggest cause for concern.
The PYD denies holding any political prisoners and said the men whose cases the rights group documented were arrested for criminal acts, such as drug trafficking and bomb attacks, the report said. (Editing by Larry King)
