Introduction: On Friday evening, April 13, 2018, security forces “Asayesh” affiliated to Autonomous Administration arrested secretary of the Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria, Ne’mat Dawood, who is also a member of the presidential body of the Kurdish National Council (KNC) of Syria, affiliated with the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces. The arrest took place at his own home in Qamishli city located in al-Hasakeh province, which is under the control of Autonomous Administration.
Ne’mat Dawood is to be one of the Syrian Kurd politicians, born in 1955, in Girkê Daquriya village, that follows Amuda city located in al-Hasakeh province. He holds a degree in mathematics. He is married with two sons and two daughters.
Dawood began his political career in 1970 by joining the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) in Syria, whose name was later transformed during the Fourth Party Congress in 1977 to the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria.
In 1983, he became a member of the party’s logical committee, and in 1986, he became a candidate for the party’s central committee. When the party was split in 1992, Dawood worked with Aziz Dawood’s Movement that carried the same name as “the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria”. At the time, Aziz Dawood took up the position of the party’s secretary whereas Ne’mat Dawood took up the position of the member of the central committee.
However, in 2008, Aziz Dawood’s Movement changed the name of the party to the Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria at the 11th Party congress.
At the 11th Party Congress in 2013, Ne’mat Dawood was elected secretary of the Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria. He later became a member of the presidential body of the Kurdish National Council (KNC) of Syria that was founded on October 26, 2011.
First: Details of the Incident
The arrest took place in an arbitrary manner, as described to STJ by a family member of the Kurdish/Syrian politician, Ne’mat Dawood,
“At 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 3, 2018, our door was knocked so harshly, Ne’mat Dawood opened the door himself and found more than ten armed persons directing their guns towards him. He asked about their identity and they replied that they were public security[1] and they hold a warrant to arrest him. Soon they covered his eyes and took him to an anonymous destination.”
For his part, Idris Khallo, member of the central committee of the Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria, told STJ that reasons of the arrest and whereabouts of Ne’mat Dawood is still unclear.
According to well-informed sources, the arrest of both Dawood and Faisal Yusuf, the general coordinator of the Kurdish Reform Movement, is due to charges of “treason” directed by the Executive Council in the Autonomous Administration against members of the “Yekiti” Party and the leadership of the Kurdish National Council (KNC) after Afrin battles. The Executive Council demanded holding accountable those “offenders” among ranks of the KNC and explaining their position from the seizure of the Kurdish/Syrian Afrin by Turkish army and factions of the Free Syrian Army.
STJ had published a report entitled “Appeals for the Release of the Kurdish Reform Movement’s General Coordinator Faisal Yusuf”, the Arrest Occurred at Dawn on Monday, 2 April 2018, by the Asayesh Forces of the Autonomous Administration.
Second: Denouncement and Rejection of Arresting Ne’mat Dawood
In its response to the arrest of Dawood, the General Secretariat of the KNC in Syria, in a statement on Saturday 14 April 2018, said that Ne’mat Dawood’s arrest is but a desperate attempt by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) to impose its hegemony with the use of power and tyranny, and to undermine role of the KNC and divert it from its national project in order to justify the failure in the disastrous situation in Afrin.
Furthermore, the General Secretariat of the KNC reiterated the demand to the immediate release of the detainees Ne’mat Dawood, Faisal Yusuf, Abdurrahman Apo and Fouad Ibrahim, along with all prisoners of conscience in its jails.
In turn, the Media Office of the Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria, in a statement issued on Friday, 13 April 2018, considered that the escalation exercised by authorities of the PYD against the cadres and leaders of the KNC, serves only enemies of the Kurdish people and its just national cause. The statement strongly condemned the actions described as “irresponsible” by the PYD, demanding the immediate release of Ne’mat Dawood along with all the prisoners of conscience in its jails and return to the negotiating table.
Moreover, the Media Office demanded the Kurdish and Kurdistan forces/parties, and legal bodies and organizations to condemn strongly these arrests and to intervene and press pressure on the PYD to stop its provocative acts, which are contrary to the values of democracy, and which are useless, the statement described.
Image shows the statement released by the Media Office of the Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria concerning the arrest of Ne’mat Dawood on April 13, 2018. Photo credit: The Media Office of the Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria.
On the other side, Adel Center for Human Rights, in a statement issued on Friday 13 April 2018, denounced the arrest of Ne’mat Dawood by armed elements believed to be Asayesh Forces of the Autonomous Administration. It noted that the behavior violates the rights and freedoms enshrined in the international human rights charters and conventions, and do not solve the unresolved problems among the political parties competing within the Kurdish society, which as emphasized in the charters and agreements on peace and human rights, need in-depth dialogue in a climate of freedom, democracy, pluralism, equality and respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens.
In a communique, the Leadership of the Kurdish Democratic Political Union in Syria/Yekiti, Friday, 13 April 2018, condemned practices of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in detaining members and cadres of the KNC, including both Faisal Yusuf, and Ne’mat Dawood, members of the presidential body in ENKS. The leadership of Yekiti said it had been better for the PYD, notably after Afrin, to provide an atmosphere for the Kurdish unity in order to meet the aspirations and constant appeals of the Kurdish people.
The Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO) in a statement issued on Saturday, April 14, 2018, said that the PYD is totally responsible of any hurt that Mr. Ne’mat Dawood might be exposed to, and asked for the immediate release of him along with Faisal Yusuf in addition to all political prisoners in its jails.
Image shows the statement released by ADO on April 14, 2008 concerning the arrest of Mr. Ne’mat Dawood. Photo credit: the Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO).
The pro-Autonomous Administration Asayesh Forces had arrested at dawn on Monday, 2 April, the current, Faisal Yusuf, member of the Presidential body of the Kurdish National Council (KNC) and the general coordinator of the Kurdish Reform Movement in Syria. Reasons why is he arrested remain unknown up to the moment. However, the Asayesh Forces had released four detainees of the KNC in Qamishli, located in the northeast of Syria, on Tuesday 13 February. Among those released are the media man “Alan Salim Ahmed” who is a reporter for the Yekiti Party, along with Saleh Jamil, Jeneid Saied Majid, and Deham Ramadan Hasan of the Kurdistan Democratic Union Party (PKD)-Syria. It should be recalled that the media person, Alan Salim Ahmed, had spent more than one and a half year in Autonomous Administration prisons.
An update: On April 19, 2018, STJ had prepared a detailed report concerning the incident of the arrest of Ne’mat Dawood, Secretary of the Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria; the Asayesh Forces affiliated to the Autonomous Administration had arrested him from his house located in Qamishli city on April 13, 2018. As confirmed by the field researcher of STJ, Ne’mat Dawood was released on Thursday, 17 May, 2018, after spending more than a month in detention.
[1] A security division in the Pro-Autonomous Administration Asayesh Forces.