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The amendment allows for authorities to impose
restrictions on contacts between prisoners and
lawyers if their meetings constitute a crime,
endanger the security of the prison or serve as a
means of communication between members of terrorist
and other criminal groups.
In such cases, the authorities would be empowered to
appoint an official to attend meetings between
prisoners and their lawyers and examine and
confiscate documents that they wish to exchange.
The amendment was part of a package of changes to a
law regulating the execution of sentences and
security measures.
Ocalan was condemned to death for treason in 1999,
but his sentence was later commuted to life in
prison after Turkey abolished capital punishment as
part of efforts to align with European Union norms.
He is the sole inmate in the prison island of Imrali,
in northwestern Turkey.
Earlier this month, the European Court of Human
Rights ruled that Ocalan's trial was unfair on the
grounds that the court that convicted him was not
impartial and he was not given adequate time to
prepare his defense.
Turkey is now under pressure to retry him.
AFP
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