Region

RABAT — Morocco on Wednesday scrapped a highly controversial law allowing rapists of children to escape punishment if they marry their victims, as rights activists pressed the government to legislate to protect women from violence.

The amendment to Article 475 of the penal code, first proposed by the country’s Islamist-led government a year ago, was adopted unanimously by lawmakers, parliamentary sources said.

The offending article made international headlines in March 2012 when Amina Filali, 16, killed herself after being forced to marry the man who had raped her, and who remained free.

Right activists hailed the amendment, while stressing that much more remained to be done to promote gender equality, outlaw child marriage and protect women from violence in the North African country.

“It’s a very important step. But it’s not enough.... We are campaigning for a complete overhaul of the penal code for women,” Fatima Maghnaoui, who heads a group supporting women victims of violence, told AFP.

Global advocacy group Avaaz said it had handed a petition signed by more than a million people to Morocco’s parliament demanding that the government adopt promised legislation to combat violence against women.

Amnesty International said Wednesday’s amendment was a step in the right direction but “long overdue”, and urged a comprehensive strategy to protect women and girls from violence in Morocco.

“It took 16-year-old Amina Filali’s suicide and nearly two years for the parliament to close the loophole that allowed rapists to avoid accountability.

“It’s time to have laws that protect survivors of sexual abuse,” the rights group’s Deputy Regional Director Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said.

As in numerous other Arab countries, sexual harassment of women is commonplace in Morocco, despite the adoption of a new constitution in 2011 that enshrines gender equality and urges the state to promote it.

An official study published last month said nearly 9 per cent of Moroccan women have been physically subjected to sexual violence at least once.

More than 50 per cent of violence against women is thought to take place within marriage, and marital rape is not recognised as a crime.

A bill proposed by the Islamist-led government, threatening prison sentences of up to 25 years for perpetrators of violence against women, is still in the drafting stage.

MOSCOW — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas sought on Thursday to secure a billion-dollar Gaza energy deal during talks with Russian leaders aimed at restoring warmer ties between the two Soviet-era allies.

Abbas and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were due to sign an intergovernmental agreement that reports said included a $1.0-billion (730-million-euro) natural gas project in the Gaza section of the Mediterranean Sea.

The state ITAR-TASS news agency said Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom hoped to produce 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas at the site.

The report added that Russia’s Technopromexport engineering firm was also considering a small oil development project near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

It was not immediately clear how far negotiations on the two deals had progressed or when the projects might be launched.

Moscow has been a close Palestinian ally since the Soviet era. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also called for the establishment of East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.

Abbas began his Moscow visit by holding talks with Putin at which he called Russia a “great power” that deserved to play a more prominent role the volatile Middle East region.

“We are glad that Russia is an active and influential player on the international arena,” Russian news agencies quoted Abbas as telling the Kremlin chief at his suburban Moscow residence.

“We are in favour of Russia playing a central role in the Middle East because it is a great power.”

Russia has more recently developed close ties with Israel but has seen its role in stuttering Middle East peace negotiations largely overtaken by the United States.

Abbas was also due on Friday to hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

CAIRO — Egypt’s military-backed interim president said Thursday that the country’s uprisings have put an end to the police state and to abuses, part of a campaign to rebrand the security forces amid a heavy handed crackdown on Islamists and other critics of the government.

Adli Mansour’s comments marking Police Day celebrations came despite continued reports of abuses by security forces since the military’s July 3 ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. Rights groups have criticised police for using excessive force in breaking up Islamist protests in a crackdown that killed hundreds of protesters.

Security forces have also carried out a wave of arrests, justifying it as a campaign against terrorism and implementing draconian new laws against protests. Thousands of supporters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood supporters have been jailed, along with a number of journalists and many of the top secular activists who led the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Last month, female secular activists said they were beaten in a police station after being arresting for holding a protest.

The deputy Mideast-North Africa director of Amnesty International on Thursday called on Egyptian authorities to “change course and take concrete steps to show they respect human rights and rule of law”, including by releasing “prisoners of conscience”.

Otherwise, “Egypt is likely to find its jails packed with unlawfully detained prisoners and its morgues and hospitals with yet more victims of arbitrary and abusive force by its police,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Mansour’s speech came days ahead of Saturday’s marking of the third anniversary of the 18-day uprising against Mubarak, which began on January 25, 2011. The day could bring rival rallies into the streets. Military loyalists have called on Egyptians to mass in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to urge army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, who ousted Morsi, to run for president. Sisi has yet to announce his intentions.

At the same time, Morsi’s Islamist supporters have called for escalated protests, trying to use the anniversary to build momentum in what the group has called a campaign to “break the coup” and ignite a new revolution.

Hundreds of pro-Morsi students clashed with security forces in fierce street battles in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria early Thursday, leaving one protester dead, according to security officials. Brotherhood websites circulated pictures of the slain student, Amr Khalaf, with a bloody head. In one of his last Facebook postings, Khalaf identified himself as “the next martyr” with a picture reading, “waiting my turn”.

Saturday brings the awkward confluence of Police Day, a January 25 holiday praising the security forces, with the uprising anniversary.

In 2011, activists launched their protests intentionally on Police Day to denounce the widespread abuses by security agencies under Mubarak — including torture, arbitrary arrests and corruption. The protests swelled into an all-out revolt against him, fuelled by public hatred of police, as well as economic woes and frustration with years of autocracy. Police forces virtually collapsed after battles with protesters.

But security agencies have re-emerged to prominence after the military’s July 3 ouster of Mubarak’s successor, Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Since then, thousands of members of Morsi’ Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested, and the group has been branded a terrorist organisation, with authorities blaming it for a wave of militant violence since his ouster, though the group denies any link.

Pro-military media have touted the police as heroes in the fight against militants. In the latest violence, masked gunmen riding on motorcycles sprayed a police checkpoint in the central province of Bani Sueif with bullets, killing five policemen and wounding two, the interior ministry said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Thousands of mourners chanted against the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi in an angry funeral procession that reflected continued popular resentment to the group.

The ceremony in the Police Academy was the first time there have been official celebrations of Police Day since the 2011 uprising. It was held two days early so as not to conflict with revolution commemorations on Saturday. Mansour made a rare reference by officials to police abuses under Mubarak — though he didn’t specify the former president, and he presented them as individual transgressions and as a thing of the past.

“The glorious revolution healed a chasm caused by wrong practices of commanders or individuals who were mistaken in understanding their role in protecting the nation and the people and misused power,” Mansour said.

He added that Egypt is starting a “new era” where police “preserves dignity of the Egyptian citizen”, and “draws a definitive end to the police state with no return”.

In the same celebration, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim — who heads the police — referred to the Muslim Brotherhood group as “forces of evil” which “hijacked the people’s revolution ... and took over power”. He lauded the police as a “nationalist institution” that will take the lead in “dealing with terrorism”.

Egypt has seen a string of attacks by Islamists, including suicide bombings, since Morsi’s ouster, largely targeting police and the military, but also claiming civilian victims. Authorities have justified the broad sweep of arrests against the Brotherhood as part of the fight against terrorism.

But activists say that violence gave police a pretext to take revenge against those who led the anti-Mubarak uprising that dealt a blow to the police. Three of the country’s best-known activists are behind bars, and an atmosphere of intimidation faced any critics of the military, who are often branded in the media of being either Morsi’s supporters or foreign agents.

The Brotherhood has sought to build a common front with secular activists, but have met with sharp rejections. The activists deeply opposed Morsi during his one-year presidency, accusing him and his Brotherhood of committing abuses, monopolising power and failing to carry out democratic reforms.

This week, the Brotherhood issued a statement trying to make amends, though it stopped short of an explicit apology. “We undoubtedly all learned the lessons and we are now convinced of the wisdom that the nation is for the whole people ... to administer through real participation of all its sectors, with no exclusion. No one owns the truth and no one controls… [the label] of patriotism.”

Still, it convinced few in the activist camp.

One group, the Revolutionary Socialists, said in a statement Thursday that while it stands against “military state repression .... we will never have common grounds with the Muslim Brotherhood and definitely will not forget their crimes”. 

BRUSSELS — France is sending business executives by the planeload to Iran. German and Dutch entrepreneurs are taking courses on how to close a deal in Tehran, and carmakers are drawing up plans for investment.

Europe’s business community is abuzz with preparations to rush back into Iran, an economic powerhouse in the Middle East, as some sanctions are suspended. And the interest is welcome — Iran is desperate to revive its economy after years of international isolation.

Under a deal with world powers, Tehran has agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for some sanctions relief and the unfreezing of about $4.2 billion in overseas assets. Iran and world powers now have six months to conclude a permanent deal.

As always, in business, it’s about getting in first.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Foreign Minister Javad Zarif arrived Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland’s Davos ski resort to meet with the world’s business elite, likely to discuss trade opportunities.

More hand shaking will take place soon thereafter in Tehran, when France’s business lobby group flies in executives representing about 100 firms for “exploratory” talks to take advantage of the sanctions’ suspension, an official with the organisation said.

Competitors are doing the same, so firms from the oil and gas sector, carmakers and other manufacturing companies want to move quickly, added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the subject remains sensitive within governments.

“Everyone is in the same state of mind,” she said.

The opportunity

For businesses, getting into Iran is a chance not to be missed. The country boasts a well-educated population of about 75 million and some of the world’s largest oil and gas reserves, much of which is still unexplored due to decades of sanctions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

European countries have historically strong trade ties with Iran — more so than the US, which has had tougher sanctions in place for longer. European sanctions only began in limited form in 2007.

The recent, more punitive measures had caused Iran’s currency to tumble while unemployment soared and ballooning inflation ate up the people’s purchasing power. This week, some sanctions were lifted on the export of petrochemical products, shipping, insurance and the trade of precious metals.

The possibilities for growth are obvious judging by how much trade has fallen. Imports by the 28-nation EU, Iran’s biggest trading partner, plunged from 16.5 billion euros ($22 billion) in 2011 to 5.6 billion euros in 2012 and a mere 395 million euros in the first half of 2013.

Exports from the bloc to Iran dwindled from around 11 billion euros to 7.4 billion euros in 2012.

Executive interest

Among the first signs that business is ready to resume is the surge in demand for flights.

Austrian Airlines last week announced it will resume five weekly flights to Tehran, and its parent company Lufthansa said it’s thinking about adding more seats to its daily flights. Turkish Airlines, which serves six Iranian destinations, is seeking permission to increase frequencies.

Even though there are fears that sanctions could go back up when the current deal expires in six months, companies are upbeat.

“Optimism is predominating that there has finally been something of a relaxation in political relations and, therefore, in business possibilities,” said Volker Treier, head of trade relations at the Association of German Chambers of Commerce.

The association last week held an event on doing business in Iran and executives “filled the room very quickly,” Treier said. The sectors represented included machinery, vehicle production, food, medical technology and pharmaceuticals.

In the Netherlands, the Dutch ambassador to Iran, Jos Douma, last week held what he called a “speed-date session” with companies interested in getting back into business with Iran.

One focus was to export spare parts for Iran’s aging planes and agricultural products. “They need all kinds of things,” he said.

Oil

For foreign firms, the biggest prize in Iran is undoubtedly its sanctions-crippled oil and gas sector.

“Iran clearly has huge resources. Its production has been curtailed in recent years,” oil company BP said in a statement. “It clearly has a lot of potential.”

It cautioned, however, that “this is likely to be a very complicated political process.”

Iran’s oil and gas industry is in poor shape since sanctions often made it impossible to upgrade production sites. Iran also needs to modernize its business laws, said Howard Rogers, the director of the Natural Gas Research programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

Other hurdles include the tight sanctions on financial transactions, which mostly remain in place and make financial transactions difficult.

Considering the big sums involved in oil production, companies will be cautious. While major players such as France’s Total, Anglo-Dutch Shell or Italy’s Eni are keen to get back in business, they are for now sticking to a wait-and-see approach until the sanctions will be lifted permanently.

“My expectation would be a rush of large players if sanctions come down,” said Rogers.

Coincidently, Iran’s Rouhani and Zarif sat next to the chief executive of Total SA, Christophe de Margerie, at a session in Davos Thursday.

Iran’s oil minister is also holding meetings in Turkey this week to seek closer cooperation. As an initial step, Turkey hopes to boost crude imports by about a third.

Cars

The other big opportunity is Iran’s auto market, which had been important for European manufacturers before the sanctions hit.

France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault, in particular, stand to gain from renewing their once-sizeable Iran activities.

As recently as 2011, Peugeot sold 455,000 cars in Iran, making the country its second-largest market after France. The company is now following the situation with interest, said spokesman Pierre-Olivier Salmon.

“The group has renewed contacts to prepare a possible resumption of activities with Iran,” he added.

Iran’s car industry is ready for investment. Its plants are running far below capacity, parts are scarce and some 100,000 jobs have been cut since the biggest sanctions took effect. Iran Khodro, the country’s biggest carmaker, plans to engage in new joint projects with foreign carmakers.

But as in the oil sector, carmakers want confirmation that the sanctions will not come crashing down again and that financial transactions will be easier.

Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn views Iran as the most important auto market in the Middle East, but renewing activities there would require a further loosening of financial sanctions, spokesman Bruno Moreau said. Renault sold 100,000 vehicles in Iran in 2011 before writing the business off when sanctions hit.

Analyst Michael Robinet, managing director at IHS Automotive, said the potential size of the Iranian market means international automakers will act as soon as they feel the thaw in relations with the West will last.

“If they do detect that there is a longer-term view that the government wants them there, and is willing to work with the sector, then I think you will start to see vehicle manufacturers move into Iran very quickly,” Robinet said.

BAGHDAD — Iraq hanged 11 people convicted of terrorist offences on Thursday, the justice ministry said, pursuing what a UN official has criticised as a “conveyor-belt of executions”.

All those executed were Iraqi nationals, justice ministry spokesman Haider Al Saadi said in a text message to Reuters, bringing the total number of people executed in less than one week to 37.

Violence in Iraq has surged in the past year to its highest levels since the Sunni-Shiite sectarian bloodshed that peaked in 2006 and 2007, when tens of thousands of people were killed.

Police on Thursday said they had thwarted an attack against a meeting of the provincial council in Diyala province, killing seven suicide bombers and dismantling five car bombs that were apparently to be used during the foiled assault.

Gunmen also attacked an Iraqi army base in Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib neighbourhood killing two soldiers, and a roadside bomb exploded when a minibus was passing near Tarmiya, north of the capital, killing another person, police said.

Iraq hanged at least 151 people in 2013, up from 129 in 2012 and 68 in 2011, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in its annual world report published on Tuesday.

The United Nations Human Rights chief, Navi Pillay, has frequently condemned Iraq’s mass executions.

“This continued conveyor belt of executions by the government of Iraq is simply deplorable,” her spokesman, Rupert Colville, said on Sunday, after 26 people were hanged.

“Iraq’s justice system still has huge deficiencies which mean that resorting to even a small number of executions is risking a grave and irredeemable miscarriage of justice,” he said. “When people are executed by the dozen, it means that such miscarriages of justice are virtually certain to be occurring.” 

BAGHDAD — Shelling in Fallujah, a town near Baghdad held by anti-government fighters, killed four people, officials said Thursday, as Barack Obama pressed “political measures” along with security operations to fight militancy.

But with an election looming in April, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has taken a hard line and trumpeted assaults on militants, with security forces announcing the killing of more than 50 fighters in recent air strikes amid ongoing efforts to retake areas of another city partly out of government control.

Several neighbourhoods in south Fallujah were hit by shelling late Wednesday, residents of the city told AFP, with four people killed and 18 others wounded, according to Dr. Ahmed Shami from the city’s main hospital.

Fallujah residents blame the army for the shelling, but defence officials say the military is not responsible.

Mortars also struck in the centre of Ramadi but did not cause any casualties, a police captain said.

Parts of Ramadi and all of Fallujah, both west of Baghdad, have for weeks been in the hands of anti-government fighters, including those affiliated with the Al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

It marks the first time militants have exercised such open control in Iraqi cities since the peak of the violence that followed the 2003 US-led invasion.

The government has changed its language in recent days from referring to all anti-government fighters in Anbar as Al Qaeda to instead using terms such as gangs.

And while Fallujah residents and tribal sheikhs have said ISIL has tightened its grip on the city in recent days, other militant groups and anti-government tribes have also been involved in fighting government forces in both cities.

Iraqi security forces have recruited their own tribal allies.

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday met with Iraq’s parliament speaker Osama Nujaifi, the country’s most senior Sunni politician, and “encouraged Iraq’s leaders to continue dialogue to address the legitimate grievances of all communities through the political process”, a White House statement said.

“Both sides agreed on the need for both security and political measures to combat terrorism,” it added.

Diplomats and foreign leaders, including Obama and UN chief Ban Ki-moon, have pushed Maliki to do more to work with Iraq’s Sunni community and pursue political reconciliation.

But while the government has made some concessions in recent months to the disaffected minority, it has mostly focused on wide-ranging security operations.

Air strikes launched across Anbar killed 50 militants, including foreign fighters of Arab nationality, the defence ministry said Wednesday.

Soldiers, police and SWAT forces have meanwhile joined with tribal allies in an offensive that continued Wednesday against gunmen holding several neighbourhoods of Ramadi.

BEIRUT — Lebanese soldiers shot and killed a jihadist suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda-linked groups after he opened fire on them in the country’s eastern Bekaa valley, the army said on Thursday.

“While carrying out searches for individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist acts, particularly car bombings, and after receiving a tip, the army set up a checkpoint on Wednesday afternoon to arrest Palestinian Ibrahim Abdel Moati Abu Moaylaq,” the army said.

“He tried to flee in his car, hitting a soldier, and then opened fire on the checkpoint to cover his escape, wounding an officer,” the statement added.

“The soldiers responded with fire, mortally wounding him, while his accomplice was able to escape.”

The army said Mouaylaq “belonged to the Abdullah Azzam Brigades and had ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant”.

The Abdullah Azzam Bridages is a Lebanese jihadist group linked to Al Qaeda, whose leader Majid Al Majid died after being arrested by Lebanese authorities earlier this month.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a jihadist group operating in Iraq and Syria that is inspired by Al Qaeda.

The army said Mouaylaq was coordinating with an ISIL chief across the border in Syria “to transfer suicide bombers into Lebanon to carry out terrorist attacks”.

BEIRUT — Nearly 1,400 people have been killed in Syria since clashes between rebels and the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) erupted this month, a monitor said Thursday.

“The number of people killed in fighting between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Islamist and rebel forces since January 3 has risen to 1,395,” the Syrian observatory for Human Rights said.

The observatory, a Britain-based group that relies on activists and other sources on the ground, said the figure included 760 moderate and Islamist rebels, 426 ISIL fighters, 190 civilians and 19 others whose identities have not been established.

Clashes between rebels and jihadists from ISIL erupted early in January after months of rising tensions.

The all-out fight has seen ISIL lose territory in Idlib and Aleppo provinces, but it has consolidated its hold over Raqa city, the only provincial capital to be pried from regime control.

Elsewhere in northern Syria, near the Turkish border, ISIL militants seized control of Manjib, northeast of Aleppo, after several days of clashes in which 12 Kurdish fighters died, the observatory said.

And three people were killed, including a young girl, and 15 wounded in a car-bomb blast in the Kurdish-held village of Malkiyeh close to the border.

Regime air raids on Aleppo left another 16 people dead, including three women and eight children, after warplanes hit several rebel-held areas in the south of the city.

Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri, in an audio message posted online on Thursday, urged all jihadist forces “to immediately halt fighting between brothers”.

While opposition fighters initially welcomed foreign jihadists to the battle, ISIL has been accused of a string of abuses against civilians and rival rebel groups.

Among the abuses that sparked the fierce clashes was ISIL’s kidnap, torture and execution of a doctor from a powerful Islamist rebel brigade.

GENEVA — A UN envoy met members of Syria’s opposition Geneva on Thursday as efforts began to salvage peace talks by focusing on local ceasefires and prisoner swaps rather than a political deal.

The first day of talks on Wednesday was dominated by fierce rhetoric from President Bashar Assad’s government and its foes. Brought together for the first time in almost three years of war, each accused the other of atrocities and showed no sign of compromise.

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met leaders of the Syrian opposition at a Geneva hotel to discuss the agenda for further talks on Friday. The opposition then went to meet officials from the United States, France and Britain. Brahimi was due to meet the delegation from Assad’s government later on Thursday.

Officials still hope they can salvage the process by starting with more modest, practical measures to ease the plight of millions of people on the ground, especially in areas cut off from international aid.

More than 130,000 people are believed to have been killed, nearly a third of Syria’s 22 million people have been driven from their homes and half are in need of international aid, including hundreds of thousands in areas cut off by fighting.

Wednesday’s opening ceremony saw global powers vigorously defend their sides, with Western countries, Arab states and Turkey all joining the opposition in demanding a transitional government that would exclude Assad.

Russia, his main global supporter, said the focus of talks should be on fighting “terrorism”, a word the Syrian government applies to all of its armed opponents.

Human organs

In the most dramatic moment of the conference, Assad’s foreign minister accused opposition fighters of raping dead women, killing foetuses and eating human organs, drawing a rebuke from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for using inflammatory language.

Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem also dismissed any suggestion that Assad might leave power, saying no international forum had the right to question the president’s legitimacy. Western and Arab states declared Assad must go.

The main negotiations, expected to last up to a week, are not due to begin until Friday, giving mediators a day to lower the temperature and focus on pragmatic steps.

One of the opposition negotiators, Haitham Al Maleh, said the mood was positive despite the tough first day. He spoke of a two-stage process, with practical steps like prisoner swaps, ceasefires, the withdrawal of heavy weapons and setting up aid corridors being dealt with first, before the political future.

The talks remain fragile, however, with both sides threatening to pull out — the government says it will not discuss removing Assad, while the opposition says it will not stay unless Assad’s removal is the basis for talks.

“There is an international willingness for this to succeed, but we don’t know what will happen,” Maleh said. “It is possible that [the government] might withdraw. We will withdraw if Geneva takes another course and deviates from the transition, to the government narrative that they are fighting terrorism.”

Emotional rhetoric

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov played down the contentious speeches that opened the talks, and emphasised the positive: “As expected, the sides came up with rather emotional rhetoric. They blamed one another,” he told reporters.

“For the first time in three years of bloody conflict... the sides — for all their accusations — agreed to sit down at the negotiating table.”

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, one of the staunchest backers of the opposition, said: “Hope exists, but it’s fragile. We must continue because the solution to this terrible Syrian conflict is political and needs us to continue discussions.”

Among the many difficulties with the process, the opposition delegation does not include Al Qaeda-linked Sunni Islamist militant groups who control much of the territory in rebel hands and have denounced those attending the talks as traitors.

Rebel ranks have been divided, with hundreds killed in recent weeks in battles between rival factions and Al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahri called on fighters to unite.

GENEVA — Syrian Kurds protested Thursday their exclusion from UN-brokered peace talks in Switzerland, and vowed to forge ahead with their own freedom drive in territories they control.

“Some forces are trying to exclude us from the solutions they are looking for, and they’re not representing anybody,” said Saleh Muslim, leader of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

“We will continue our struggle until we get our democratic rights,” he told reporters in Geneva, where the Syrian government and opposition were to hold separate meetings with the UN mediator on Friday, two days after angry exchanges at the so-called Geneva II international peace conference in the Swiss city of Montreux.

Speaking on behalf of the Syrian Kurdish Supreme Council — made up of a range of groups from the country’s Kurdish minority — Muslim said its efforts to join the talks had failed.

That was despite repeated requests to the United Nations, the United States and Russia, the main movers in getting the Syrian regime and opposition coalition to the table.

The opposition delegation in Geneva includes Abdel Hamid Darwish, head of the Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party, which has questioned the PYD’s drive for self-rule in northeastern Syria.

But Muslim poured scorn on Darwish’s clout within the delegation, and complained that rights for the Kurdish minority were not on the table.

“How can you bring democracy to Syria without solving the Kurdish issue in Syria? The Kurdish issue should be solved within Geneva II,” he said.

He said Syria was home to 3.5 million Kurds, or some 15 per cent of the country’s population, and part of a community of around 40 million scattered across the region, notably in Iraq and Turkey.

Muslim noted that his movement rose up for Kurdish rights back in 2004, seven years before a regime crackdown on peaceful Arab Spring-inspired protests sent Syria spinning into civil war.

“We have a long history of struggle against this regime,” he said.

But he also criticised the Syrian opposition coalition, saying it had failed to give Kurds a fair hearing.

“All we want is constitutional recognition of our existence,” he said.

“We couldn’t do it with the coalition, the people who are going to take decisions for Syria, and for the future of Syria,” he lamented.

Syrian troops mostly withdrew from majority Kurdish areas in summer 2012, focusing their attention on rebel fighters and enabling the Kurds to develop semi-autonomy.

Kurdish fighters, especially those affiliated with the PYD, have since fought fierce battles against extremist opposition groups.

Two months ago, three Kurdish-majority regions declared self-rule, and one of them named a municipal council on Tuesday.

The Syrian Kurdish Supreme Council has forged an alliance with representatives of the Syriacs, one of the oldest branches of Christianity.

Bassam Ishak, president of the Syriac National Council of Syria which is not included in the talks, complained that grassroots movements have been sidelined amid international diplomatic efforts to end the country’s war.

“We are the people who are working hand in hand to build our democracy from the bottom up,” Ishak told reporters, insisting that without “authentic representatives of the Syrian people, Geneva II will not be able to come up with a sustainable solution”.