Telkepe, North Iraq (AINA) -- An Assyrian political activist, Hazim Zori, member of the Telkepe district council, ranking member of the Assyrian Democratic Organization and member of the Hammurabi Human Rights Group, was detained by Kurdish security forces, known as Asayesh, on may 14, 2009. According to Mr. Zori, he was targeted by Asayesh because of his advocacy of Assyrian rights in the Telkepe council in north Iraq.

According to Mr. Zori, the Asayesh threatened him, intimidated and mistreated him. "This unfair treatment was due to principles and stands that I took in the Telkepe council," he said. "Those stands reflected the rights of our people to live honorable life and to have free will like every other group in Iraq and to have our own right to have our own independent decision not under submissiveness or pressure from others."