(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC of International PEN welcomes the 22 February 2004 release of Marwan Osman, a writer and member of the Kurdish PEN Centre. Osman and co-accused Kurdish activist Hassan Saleh were reportedly acquitted of the charges against them on 22 February and immediately left Syria for Iraqi Kurdistan. Osman, a Kurdish writer, poet […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC of International PEN welcomes the 22 February 2004 release of Marwan Osman, a writer and member of the Kurdish PEN Centre. Osman and co-accused Kurdish activist Hassan Saleh were reportedly acquitted of the charges against them on 22 February and immediately left Syria for Iraqi Kurdistan.
Osman, a Kurdish writer, poet and leading member of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Unity Party (SKDUP), was arrested on 15 December 2002 together with Saleh, another leading SKDUP member, for their participation in a peaceful demonstration demanding greater protection for the rights of Kurds living in Syria. Osman and Saleh appeared before a military court on 15 January 2003 and were referred to the Supreme State Security Court on charges of “inciting religious and ethnic discord”. They were acquitted of the charges and released on 22 February 2004.
