VAN - İHD Van Branch Head Mehmet Karataş said that while the execution of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan should be ended, it is against the law to continue the execution in isolation.

 

There has been no news since March 25, 2021 from PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, who was brought to Turkey on February 15, 1999 by an international conspiracy and held in Imralı Type F High Security Prison under heavy isolation conditions for 24 years.

 

Mehmet Karataş, Head of the Van Branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD), said that although many individuals, institutions or non-governmental organizations have expressed their views on the isolation, the insistence on isolation by the state is an unacceptable practice.

 

'THE DECISION HAS NO REFERENCE IN THE LAW WORLD'

 

Stating that isolation is a crime against humanity, Karataş said: “Such practices are serious human rights violations that have no equivalent in terms of human or criminal law. Every convicted prisoner has the right to a lawyer, both in the penal execution law and within the framework of the regulation under this law; however, when the 2-year uninterrupted isolation on Abdullah Öcalan and other prisoners caused violations of rights with a systematic practice, the so-called ban on lawyers was applied with the logic of "how can we cover up these rights violations". These decisions have no acceptance in the legal world because these decisions are not shared with the public, lawyers or family-guardians. Thus, the right to take legal action is prevented without the right to object and at the same time, the right of access to the court is violated. This practice is proof of the systematic practice of isolation by law. While the isolation of Öcalan should be ended, it is against human dignity to continue the execution with punishment and isolation.”