In a new letter addressed to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), 23 members of trade unions, political parties, human rights organisations and other individuals from Austria have demanded the CPT revisit Turkey’s İmralı Island Prison, where Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan is imprisoned.
“As members of a group of representatives of various non-governmental organisations, trade unions, political parties, peace and human rights organisations, activists, academics, professors, lawyers and journalists, we would like to hereby make an urgent call on you,” the signatories said in their letter to the CPT.
It was recently announced that the İmralı prison administration imposed a new six-month ban on lawyer visits for Öcalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who has been held in absolute isolation for the last 38 months of his 25-year detention to date.
The letter highlighted that Öcalan “has been denied any contact with the outside world, including his lawyers and his family, for over three years now.”
“Mr Öcalan is a citizen of a Council of Europe member state that has denied him his human rights for two and a half decades and that has also denied him the right to meet his lawyers and communicate with his family for three years. We urge you to send a delegation to İmralı immediately to speak to Mr Öcalan and find out more about his welfare,” they said.
The parties concluded by saying this action “would help resolve a pressing human rights issue and address the concerns of millions of Kurds. It could also revitalise the spirit of reconciliation that is necessary for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey.”
Similarly, in May, influential figures and institutions from Italy penned a letter to the CPT, saying the organisation must fulfil its responsibilities to uphold ‘human rights and fundamental freedoms’ with regards to Öcalan’s case.
Pressure has been mounting against the Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee to take concrete steps to end the inhuman isolation practices used in Turkish prisons, in particular with regards to the treatment of Öcalan, who is considered by millions of Kurds as their legitimate political leader and as the key to establishing renewed peace talks between the Turkish state and Kurdish forces.
The CPT has conducted inspections at İmralı, but has failed to release a report on prison conditions and the welfare of Öcalan or the three other inmates on the island. The secrecy surrounding conditions at İmralı prison starkly contrasts with transparency norms in other penitentiaries. However, the CPT requires the permissions of the state in question to release inspection reports, which the Turkish government has not allowed. The CPT is widely accused of losing its credibility over this inaction which appears to endorse human rights violations in member states.
