The report, entitled "Group Denial: Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria," documents what HRW says are efforts by the authorities to "ban and disperse" Kurdish gatherings and "the detention of leading Kurdish political activists and their ill-treatment in custody."

"At a time when other countries in the region, from Iraq to Turkey, are improving the treatment of their Kurdish minority, Syria remains resistant to change," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director.

"In fact, Syria has been especially hostile to any Kurdish political or cultural expression."

Kurds represent around nine percent of Syria's 20-million population.

Living mainly in the north, near the border with Turkey and Iraq, Syria's Kurds are demanding recognition of their language, culture and political rights but deny they are seeking secession.

The New York-based HRW said the repression of Kurds in Syria "has greatly intensified following large-scale Kurdish demonstrations in March 2004."

Since 2005, it said, "Syrian security forces have repressed at least 14 Kurdish political and cultural public gatherings, overwhelmingly peaceful, and often resorted to violence to disperse the crowds."

Aside from political meetings in support of Kurds' minority rights, the security forces have also disrupted gatherings to celebrate Nowruz, the Kurdish New Year, and other cultural celebrations, the rights group charged.

"In at least two instances, the security services fired on the crowds and caused deaths."

The report also documented the arrests and trials of at least 15 prominent Syrian Kurdish political leaders since 2005.

In the most recent example, the Damascus Criminal Court on November 15 sentenced three leading members of the Kurdish Azadi Party to three years in jail for "weakening national sentiment" and "inciting sectarian or racial strife or provoking conflict between sects and various members of the nation."

Of 30 former Kurdish detainees interviewed by the group, 12 said they had been tortured by the security forces.

"Most of those detained are referred to military courts, where they can be convicted of vaguely defined, overbroad 'security charges'," the report said.

Whitson urged better understanding by the authorities of Kurdish grievances.

"The Syrian government sees threats everywhere, even in village New Year celebrations," she said.

"If the government wants better relations with its Kurdish minority, it should address their legitimate grievances instead of trying to silence them."

HRW also urged the European Union and the United States, to voice "their strong disapproval of Syria's treatment of its Kurdish minority and to emphasise that further progress in their relations with Damascus will depend on concrete improvements in Syria's human rights situation."

"Ignoring the treatment of Kurds in Syria will not make the problem go away," Whitson said.

"The international community has played an important role in improving the treatment of Kurds in Iraq and Turkey, and it needs to do the same for Syria's Kurds."