The Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) is publishing a regular bulletin keeping track of the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan on the prison island of İmralı. Öcalan, who has been imprisoned for more than 25 years in total, has now been kept in absolute isolation for three years, one month and seven days.
ÖHD’s bulletin is published every 15 days to draw attention to the isolation conditions at İmralı Type F High Security Prison.
Öcalan inspired the 2012 Rojava revolution from his prison cell with his new paradigm of democratic conferderalism, ecology and women’s freedom. He has been kept in solitary confinement for more than 24 of his 25 years of incarceration, often with several year-long intervals between phone calls with his family and lawyers.
The last communication with Öcalan, a disrupted call with his family, was on 25 March 2021.
According to ÖHD, Öcalan’s lawyers have been refused access to their client for even longer: Four years, eight months and 26 days.
The United Nations Mandela Rules state that prolonged solitary confinement is a form of torture. The UN defines a prolonged solitary confinement as any period in excess of 15 days.
The Turkish General Directorate of Prisons recently responded to an application by the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party by flatly denying that Öcalan was being held in isolation conditions.
Another prisoner, Veysi Aktaş, was not released as planned on 28 April. Instead, the Administration and Observation Board has postponed his release for another year. ÖHD responded to the news about Aktaş by pointing out that the decision, “which means the usurpation of Mr. Aktaş’s freedom”, was not communicated to his lawyers.
Calls for an end to Öcalan’s isolation have been growing louder over the last months, after the launch of a new campaign for his freedom at the end of last year. Lawyers Without Borders Deputy Chair Etienne Lesage called the isolation a “clear violation of the European Human Rights Convention” last month. On 1 May, the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) called for heightened efforts to secure his freedom.
