Political dissidents, whom have been given “house arrests” are increasingly being forced to wear ”electronic shackles” which are described as one of the new ‘weapons’ of use in the modern penal system in Turkey. A peace mother was forced to wear an electronic shackle months after she was placed under house arrest.
Adalet Çay (60) is a peace mother who was detained on 6 October 2020 in Turkey’s southeastern province of Şanlıurfa (Riha) and released on 14 October with a legal ruling of “house arrest”.
After Çay has been imprisoned in her own ‘home’ for over 4 four months, her door was recently knocked by the Turkish security officials and she was forced to wear an “electronic shackle”.
“I am an elderly woman. I demanded peace and they put shackles on my feet,” said peace mother Çay reacting to this humiliating imposition.
“I am 60 years old. I have never run away from anything in my life. I am just a mother who wants the bloodshed end. I want peace, but here is what they to, putting my feet in shackles. They won’t even let me out of my own home. This is neither legal, not ethical.”
Çay noted that the decision of house arrest and being electronically tracked all the time with the electronic shackle on her right foot effects not just her psychological, but physical health.
“We have to ask for permission from the local authorities to visit hospital. They tell us to call Ankara first to do that,” she said. “This is such a psychological pressure. I feel so stressed that I can’t sleep at night. I want those shackles be taken off my foot.”
