Front Line is concerned following reports that human rights lawyer, Ms. Filiz Kalayci, was arrested on 27 May 2009. Filiz Kalayci has been working on human rights violations in prisons and on the improvement of prison conditions. She is a member of the executive committee of the Human Rights Association (IHD).
Filiz Kalayci was first arrested on 12 May 2009 along with three other lawyers, when her office and residence were raided by officers of the
Ankara Directorate of Security’s Anti-Terrorism Department. She was charged with aiding an illegal organization-the Kurdistan Wokers’ Party (PKK), under Article 220/7 of Turkish Penal Code.
The 11th Heavy Penal Court of Ankara, however, did not uphold the arrest and ordered the release of Filiz Kalayci on14 May 2009. The Public Prosecutor appealed the court’s decision to relase her and issued another arrest warrant on 25 May 2009. On 27 May 2009, Filiz Kalayci was at Ankara Court House to work on some of her clients’ files, when she was arrested by police. She was immediately brought before a judge who confirmed the arrest and then transferred to prison.
IHD believes that the charges against Filiz Kalayci represent a retaliation for her human rights work, in particular in denouncing the conditions of detention in Turkish prisons. Front Line is concerned for the physica and psychological integrity of Filiz Kalayci while in detention.
Front Line urges the Turkish authorities to:
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Immediately and unconditionally release Filiz Kalayci, as Front Line believes that she is being held solely as a result of her legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights;
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Ensure that treatment of Filiz Kalayci, while detention, adheres to all those conditions set out in the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988;
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Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological security and integrity of Filiz Kalayci;
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Guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Turkey are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals, and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.
Front Line respectfully reminds you that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, recognises the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders and their right to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals. We would particularly draw your attention to Article 11: “Everyone has the rights, individually and in association with others, to the lawful exercise of his or her occupation or profession,” and to Article 12 (2): “The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyoone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threat, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.”
Yours Sincerely
Mary Lawlor
Director