Prisoner Nedim Öztürk, who has been on hunger strike for 111 days in a high-security prison in the Turkish capital Ankara, is suffering from deteriorating health, including numbness in his body. His sister, Meral Halisdemir, shared her concerns with the Mezopotamya Agency on Saturday.
Öztürk began a hunger strike on 24 April to demand his transfer from his current high-security prison to an alternative facility and to protest against the violations inherent in the prison environment.
Following her visit to Öztürk in the prison two days ago, Halisdemir revealed that although her brother had not been sentenced to life imprisonment, he was being held in solitary confinement in the high security prison. She stressed that Öztürk’s repeated appeals to the authorities and relevant bodies for a solution to his plight have so far resulted in no visible action.
Describing Öztürk’s living conditions, Halisdemir said: “My brother has been denied participation in community activities. The yard is surrounded by three metre high walls, with only a small patch of sky. His cell lacks proper ventilation, natural lighting and access to sunlight. In this three-storey prison, it is a challenge to distinguish day from night on the ground floor.”
Halisdemir drew a parallel between Öztürk’s current imprisonment in Sincan Prison and a “bell jar”. She made an impassioned plea for her brother’s demands to be met and questioned the omission of political prisoners from the amnesty bill passed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in July, a measure that saw the release of those convicted of crimes including murder and rape.
Within Turkey, the persistent spectre of human rights abuses in prisons has continued to attract the attention of advocacy groups. Reports published by the Human Rights Association (İHD) have highlighted the denial of medical care to sick inmates, instances of solitary confinement, arbitrary enforcement of punitive measures and, in some cases, violence resulting in suspected death.
Solitary confinement in Turkey
Despite not being sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment, Öztürk remains in solitary confinement. However, in particular the practice of incarcerating people in solitary confinement until death as a result of aggravated life imprisonment is vehemently condemned by human rights defenders.
Aggravated life imprisonment is historically significant as the most severe form of punishment in Turkey following the abolition of the death penalty in 2002. Prior to this, the decision to carry out the death penalty rested with the legislative assembly, resulting in a moratorium on executions since 1984.
As a result of the transition from the death penalty to aggravated life imprisonment, the possibility of release for life was eliminated for both those previously sentenced to death and those subsequently sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment.
It should be noted that the use of indefinite solitary confinement with no prospect of release applies only to political prisoners. In criminal cases, the equivalent of aggravated life imprisonment is “solitary confinement for 30 years”.
Right to hope
The change in the law, which replaced the death penalty with aggravated life imprisonment, also affected Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). In particular, in a 2014 ruling regarding Öcalan’s case, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that the provisions allowing for indefinite aggravated life imprisonment violated the prohibition of torture, thus necessitating legislative changes.
However, the ECHR’s ruling on the right to hope in relation to aggravated life imprisonment has not yet been implemented, leading the Council of Europe in 2021 to call on Turkey for the immediate adoption of legal and ancillary measures to establish a review mechanism for aggravated life sentences after a specified minimum period.
