October 7, 2011

Mashaal Tammo, one of the most active Kurdish leaders in the Syrian Kurdish community, and a highly respected figure across all segments of Syrian society, was born in Derbassiyeh in 1958. He was a resident of Qamishli, and was an agricultural engineer. He was married and had four sons and two daughters.

Mashaal Tammo was assassinated on Friday, October 7, 2011 in a residence in the city of Qamishli. He had survived an assasination attempt on September 8, 2011.

Tammo was the spokesperson for the Kurdish Future Movement Party, and was one of the most prominent political leaders among the Kurdish community. He had served as one of the leaders of the Kurdish Popular Union Party in Syria for more than two decades.

Mashaal Tammo left the Kurdish Popular Union Party at the end of 1999 and founded, along with other activists, the Committees for the Revival of Civil Society in Syria. In Qamishli, Tammo also formed the Badr Khan Cultural Forum, an organization that promoted topics of interest to the Syrian community in general, and the Kurdish community in particular. He headed this organization until it closed. Tammo was known as an educator, a politician, and an author on Kurdish issues.

On May 29, 2005, Mashaal Tammo established, with other young Kurds, the Kurdish Future Movement in Syria, a project to develop political and cultural concepts and practical application. He distanced himself from factional parties consumed by ideology. He threw himself into activism after the March 12 bloodshed in Qamishli, and was committed to liberal, peaceful, and democratic principles based on the concept that Syria, as a multi-ethnic country, embraces all its citizens, and the Kurds are an important element in the Syrian national fabric.

At dawn on Friday, August 15, 2008, while Mashaal Tammo was heading from the city of Ain Al-Arab/Kobani to Aleppo, he was arrested by an Air Force security patrol. He spent more than 10 days cut off from the outside world, while all security branches denied any knowledge of his whereabouts.

On August 26, 2008, Tammo was transported by Air Force Intelligence in Aleppo to the Political Security branch in Damascus, which in turn referred him to preliminary court in Damascus.

On May 11, 2009, the primary Criminal Court in Damascus, headed by Judge Mohyeddin Hallak, sentenced Tammo to three and a half years in prison for participating in the Syrian Opposition. As the spokesperson for the Kurdish Future Movement in Syria, he was charged with "undermining the prestige of the state and weakening the national sentiment and the morale of the nation." In accordance with Articles 285 - 286 of the Syrian penal code, he was sentenced to three years for each violation, along with penalties. This resulted in a six-year prison term that was reduced to three and half years due to extenuating circumstances and an appeal.

Mashaal Tammo was released on June 8, 2011, along with Hassan Saleh and Maaroof Molla Ahmad, in an attempt by the authorities to ease tensions with the Kurds. However, Tammo delivered a powerful speech in which he reiterated his position on toppling the regime, and announced that he was joining the Syrian people’s Revolution; in fact, he joined demonstrators and helped them gain momentum as other leaders joined him.

Mashaal Tammo helped to establish the National Salvation Conference of July 16, 2011, held outside Syria for security reasons. He continued in his efforts to unite the opposition, and was a founding member of the newly formed Syrian National Council.

Long live Mashaal Tammo, our great fighter and martyr. He will never be forgotten.