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We demand better living conditions for
Turkey Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan
26.11.2009 |
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November 26, 2009
Petition:
We demand better living conditions for Mr. Abdullah
Ocalan
To: Amnesty international & European Committee for
the Prevention of Torture, CPT
The Turkish state and the government has long
promised to the European Court and the European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture, CPT, to
change the brutal isolating conditions that has been
held towards the Kurdish PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan
during eleven years on the prison island of Imrali
in the sea of Marmara in Turkey. This gave us hope
that the isolation would be removed and that
Ocalan's right to life and his human rights would be
respected. According to reports from both the CPT
and the European Court,www.ekurd.netthe
condition Ocalan lives in is a clear violation of
all international laws regarding the respect of a
prisoner, his human rights and human dignity are
therefore not reasonable. This fact threatens both
his mental and physical health. That Ocalan's
physical and mental health has significantly
deteriorated by his confinement on Imrali and the
conditions he is held captive in, is also witnessed
by his relatives and his lawyers. It has long been
said by the Turkish government that the conditions
Ocalan has lived in during the recent ten years
should change. The actual result of this change
occurred by an emergency report that Ocalan himself,
his lawyers and relatives have published for the
national and the international community.
The report presents that the Turkish state has set
up a new prison, which Ocalan was transferred to on
Tuesday 17 November 2009. According to the Turkish
Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin, nine other
prisoners from different prisons around the country
will also move there so that Ocalan will not be the
sole prisoner on the island of Imrali. But no trace
of this change has until now been recognized. Ocalan
is still the only prisoner in a prison which is ten
times more isolating and the conditions which he
lives in are much more inhumane than the previous
prevailing conditions.
Although the Turkish Ministry of Justice indicate
that obvious changes have been made at the newly
built prison on the island in order to improve the
living conditions of Ocalan, the reality is quite
the opposite. In the new prison and in the new cell
which Ocalan is in, much worse conditions exist
compared to the previous prison he has been held in.
Ocalan’s new cell is only six square meters, while
the previous cell was 13 square meters. The air
conditioning is much worse than before, which leads
to big difficulties in absorption of oxygen. The
window is also extremely worse. It is constructed
upwards and no oxygenated fresh air is let through.
Its design prevents Ocalan from having a view of the
outside world and the daylight that comes in from
the window is very hot.
In his latest statement Ocalan describes his new
living conditions by following:
"My new cell is half the size of my old cell and
consists of six square meters. The air conditioning
here is also much worse. In order to be able to
inhale and exhale air, I must stand by the window
and open it. The window here is built upwards and I
have no view on the outside world. The only thing I
can behold is the sky. When I have to open the
window in order to get oxygen, the sun burns me
greatly. Even though the heat from the sun is so
unpleasant, that I feel like I will get a heat
stroke, I am forced to stay by the open window in
order to get oxygen. I have very severe breathing
problems here. "
The Kurdish PKK leader's brother Mehmet Ocalan, who
recently visited his brother at the newly
established prison, on 18 November 2009, said in an
interview with the press that the sharp
deterioration had been made on Ocalan's living
conditions at the prison by informing the following:
"In the name of improvement clear deterioration has
been made. The cell that my brother now is living in
is a room of six square meters, but the former was
thirteen square meters. The air conditioning is
significantly much worse and my brother has great
difficulty in inhalation and exhalation of air.
Ocalan said during the meeting to us that he feels
that he at any time will be suffocated and that
every time he tries to inhale air, it feels like his
guts are coming out of his body. My brother was also
subjected to solitary confinement during our meeting
with him. Previously, the distance between him and
us was ten metres less when we met him, but now
Ocalan was buried in a cage of glas and the distance
between us was thirty metres. We had to yell to hear
each other. This was the worst meeting and the worst
state we have seen him in during the ten years which
Ocalan has been held in a Turkish prison. As
Ocalan's family, we strongly protest against the
Turkish government's actions against him. His
deteriorated condition and state create considerable
concern for us."
We, the Kurds in the Diaspora and Kurdish friends,
would like to turn to you and all organizations
which have the objective to work for humanity and
human rights and we appeal for your humanity and
your human attention on this serious issue. The
above mentioned factors all point to a system, which
is twice as much worse isolating and painful, has
been established at the new prison. This has
occurred despite CPT's demands for improvement of
the conditions. In Amnesty International reports the
case has been highlighted a number of times in the
past and even the organization has made an appeal
that the social and psychological isolation, which
Ocalan is subjected to, should end. Amnesty
International has clearly expressed criticism
against the CPT's latest report, which was published
on 6 March 2008 and held a number of softer
emphasizes against Turkey, on the case where it was
revealed that Ocalan has been poisoned. Amnesty
International had through their head office in
London stated that the European Committee for the
Prevention of Torture, CPT, was vague and weak in
their indications and pressure on Turkey concerning
the treatment and the poisoning of Ocalan. According
to Amnesty International reports and international
criteria, isolation is an extensive and dangerous
crime of a man's physical and mental well-being.
That a country like Turkey, who has signed on most
of the European criterias and laws for a humane
treatment of detainees in prisons, promising to
improve Abdullah Ocalan's situation and living
conditions, but are instead doing the exact
opposite, is both appalling and unacceptable.
Hereby, we ask Amnesty International and the
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture,
CPT to take this case into consideration and present
it on your agenda. We ask you to pay attention to
the case with other organizations, also working with
human rights and all matters relating to the
subject. We also want you to convey, that Turkey
with its legitimacy as a state and the false
impression that the government gives to be a rule,www.ekurd.netare
not covered by any rule of law when it violates its
promises and respond to CPT's requirement to improve
the living conditions of Abdullah Ocalan by doing
the exact opposite to him. We would like to draw
attention to that Turkey's intentions with this
behavior is to deceive CPT and the international
community regarding to this case. We therefore ask
you to initiate immediate efforts and actions
against this brutal crime, which is to slowly but
surely break down Ocalan and thus lead him into a
life-threatening mental and physical condition.
That Abdullah Ocalan's death sentence was abolished
was good news for everyone, but that the sentence
was replaced by torture and painful isolation, which
may be called as a white execution, is an inhumane
fact which your organizations should not accept and
therefore do everything in your power to both deter
and prevent.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
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