İHD-HRFT Joint Statement on the Ongoing Hunger Strikes in Turkish Prisons

We call on everyone without exception, particularly, the political power:

Respect Human Dignity and Value,

Speak Out for Life

 

10 May 2019

 

Four prisoners kept in İmralı Prison under isolation have neither been allowed to confer with their lawyers and meet with their families nor have they been allowed to communicate by letter or phone for a long time.

For instance, Abdullah Öcalan who is kept in İmralı Prison, had not been able to confer with his lawyers since 27 July 2011. His lawyers’ motions to confer with their client had constantly been overruled on arbitrary grounds in spite of the clear provision in Article 59 of Law no. 5275 on the Enforcement of Sentences and Security Measures that provided for conferences between convicted prisoners and their lawyers. The decree law no. 676 of 3 October 2016, which was issued after the declaration of state of emergency, introduced amendments to Article 59 of Law no. 5275 and conferences with lawyers were banned because of various concrete situations. The ban had been sustained following this date through rulings by the Enforcement Court. The latest motion by the lawyers to confer with their clients on 25 April 2019 was overruled for the 809th time on the mentioned grounds.

Moreover, family visitation has arbitrarily been maintained in spite of the fact that there are no legal restrictions or bans on family visitations. The fact is Law no. 5275 on the Enforcement of Sentences and Security Measures along with the Bylaw on Visitations to Prisoners, which was drafted based on Articles 83 and 116 of the mentioned law, clearly sets forth that convicted prisoners (including those sentenced to life in prison) have visitation rights twice a month, one being contact the other being non-contact visitation. The authority to restrict visitations due to disciplinary action granted to prison authorities have the maximum limit of one year. Further, according to Article 5 of the mentioned bylaw, prisoners’ conferences with official authorities and lawyers can in no way be prevented even if prisoners face solitary confinement due to disciplinary action.

While the Turkish legislation puts forth the above-mentioned provisions, there are international human rights conventions and UN resolutions that Turkey has to abide by as per Article 90 of the Constitution. The UN’s Mandela Rules updated in December 2015 regulates the rights of the prisoner in detail and prohibits isolation.

A modern understanding of criminal enforcement respectful of human rights absolutely necessitates conferences with lawyers and visitations by family for prisoners to protect their physical and psychological health and to use their rights to defense. Besides the necessity to put an end to isolation practices, which signify deprivation of external stimuli and therefore pose direct risks to human health as was proven by scientific studies, has been a major subject on the agenda of our country for long.

This is the very reason why HDP Hakkari Deputy Leyla Güven went on hunger strike on 8 December 2018 in Diyarbakır D-Type Prison. Following Leyla Güven, prisoners in different prisons all over Turkey have gone on indefinite and non-alternate hunger strikes since 16 December 2018. At the same time, many other individuals have also gone on hunger strike although they were not in prison in order to protest isolation in Turkish prisons.

According to the data collected by our documentation centers, 3,065 prisoners including deputies have been on indefinite and non-alternate hunger strike in 90 prisons all over Turkey as of 22 April 2019. Since 30 April 2019 a total of 15 prisoners and another 15 since 10 May 2019 have stated that they have now started a “death fast,” as they called it, or in other words, they would be continuing with hunger strikes until they die if their demands were not met.

At this critical phase the mothers of prisoners on hunger strike have been holding press conferences and staging sit-ins etc. in order to bring their children’s life-threatening conditions up to the agenda of the public and the authorities. Even these democratic protests that are virtually outcries are not tolerated and the mothers are subjected to intensive violence by the law enforcement. These flagrant violations of the right to peaceful assembly and protest along with the prohibition on torture and ill-treatment which leave profound scars on public conscience cannot be accepted on any account.

That being the case, the lawyers’ motion against the ban on conferences for prisoners in İmralı Prison imposed by Bursa 1st Enforcement Court was sustained by Bursa Assize Court on 17 April 2019 and the ban was legally lifted. Abdullah Öcalan’s lawyers, however, were only able to confer with their clients on 2 May 2019. Following this visit, a letter drafted by Abdullah Öcalan and three other prisoners in İmralı Prison was communicated to the lawyers by state authorities themselves. The lawyers shared this letter with the public on 6 May 2019.

The conference and letter in question, which have given hope to people sensitive about the hunger strikes, notably the mothers, that the hunger strikes would end in a positive way has once again clearly demonstrated that there were no legal obstacles before the lifting of isolation and the practice implemented thus far has indeed by arbitrary.

Prisoners on hunger strike, however, have stated through their representatives that a one-off lawyer conference did not mean removal of isolation and they would continue their hunger strike in the absence of a statement by the Ministry of Justice that these conferences would be held on a routine basis. Similarly, Leyla Güven and deputies on hunger strike have also stated that they would continue their protests.

Experience tells us that prisoners on hunger strike face alarmingly critical life-threatening conditions and irreversible health problems. The above-mentioned deadlock and stalemate are rather worrisome. No negative development that would open up deep and irreparable wounds in the public conscience can be allowed. An environment of resolution based on law and human dignity should immediately be established to provide for the ending of hunger strikes without delay.

Therefore, we call on everyone without exception, notably the political power: Respect human dignity and value, speak out for life. Nothing is more valuable than human life.

 

Human Rights Association

Human Rights Foundation of Turkey