ad al-Khaznawi’s sons had been called to a hospital in Deir al-Zour to identify the cleric’s body.
The sons said there were signs on his body that he had been tortured, the spokesman told the BBC.
The banned Yakiti Party is blaming the government for his death and is calling for an official investigation.
Syrian blogger Amarji wonders if this will turn out to be a turning point, like the assassination of Rafik Hariri in Lebanon:
Will the killing of Kurdish Sheikh Maashouq Al-Khaznawi prove a watershed of violent developments between Arab and Kurds in Syria? Perhaps. Kurdish popular reactions over the next few days will provide the answer.
Sheikh Maashouq began to play an increasingly prominent role in the Syrian Kurdish Community over the last couple of years both as an advocate or reconciliation with the Arab population and a spokesman for moderate Islam. His message of peace and reconciliation had attracted a lot of attention, support and admiration among Syria’s Kurdish population. Indeed, his sudden “disappearance” a short while ago drew thousands of Kurdish demonstrators to the streets in the Syria’s northernmost city of Qamishly.
But, and in contract to the tragic developments last year though, these demonstrations were pretty peaceful. The demonstrators, most of whom suspected that Sheikh Maashouq had been kidnapped by the local security apparatuses, merely urged the central authorities to find out the truth about his disappearance and to secure his release.
Instead, the authorities delivered to them his reportedly tortured and mutilated body. The Sheikh was killed by family members we are told. Can we believe that? Can Maashouq’s Kurdish disciples believe that? Will Maashouq prove to be Syria’s Hariri? Will he prove the hair that broke the camel’s back? Or, and as the Syrian saying goes, will the entire event prove to be just another fart against the marble floor?
Leave a Reply