İSTANBUL - Drawing attention to the deteriorating conditions in prisons, Mehmet Acettin from the IHD Prisons Commission called for the demands of the prisoners on hunger strike to be met. 

 

The violations of rights of the prisoners hunger striking against the isolation on PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan increases by the day. According to the Human Rights Association (İHD) 2020 Prisons Report, in just one year, 1,182 prisoners applied to the association for violations they experienced in terms of torture, ill-treatment, access to healthcare, communication and access to information. Again, at least 174 people were subjected to violence for opposing strip searches in prison. According to Mehmet Acettin, a member of the Istanbul Branch Prisons Commission of the İHD, ideological reasons lie behind the violations in question.

 

THEY PREVENT THE PRISONERS FROM BEING RELEASED UNLAWFULLY

 

Noting that new violations came to the fore after the new Law on Execution, Acettin said that one of them was the practices of the Administration Monitoring Board (İGK). Expressing that "repentance" is imposed on the detainees which means being a confessor and tip the law enforcement on other people, Acettin pointed out that those who do not accept this are prevented from being released. Acettin said, “This board connects any action of the prisoner with an organization and prevents his release. In fact, they can definitely create something for the prisoner who has never been involved in anything. In addition, they prevent the release by giving disciplinary punishment to the prisoners just before their release."

 

PRACTICES OF THE ADMINISTRATIONS IN PRISONS

 

Stating that the conditions in prisons are getting worse, Acettin said that the most affected by this situation are the sick prisoners. Noting that the prison administrations also impose humiliating practices on political prisoners, Acettin said, “Some of the problems that prisoners have experienced recently are strip searches. These practices are insulting practices. These practices have increased with the new law."  Expressing that the practices on political prisoners are ideological, Acettin said, "This practice is also to make people accept their power and dominance. But there are structures that stand against it and organize against it. This is the policy of crushing captured dissidents and must be considered within the law of the enemy. The state looks at a political prisoner as an enemy. The government is trying to establish its authority with practices such as 'one language, one flag'.

 

HUNGER STRIKES

 

Referring to the situation of the prisoners on hunger strike in prisons, Acettin continued: "The government does not hear the demands of the prisoners on hunger strike. Only the families of the prisoners are trying to make their voices heard. But the mothers of the prisoners are also detained and punished while trying to get the people to hear their children on hunger strike. The prisoners are very determined and not giving up. They have made up their minds not to quit. They must be heard. They want the isolation in all prisons, especially the isolation on Abdullah Öcalan held in İmralı, to end. We want the demands of the protesters to be met and the hunger strikes to end without anyone dying."