Abdullah Öcalan, a deeply symbolic name in contemporary Kurdish political history, has been in solitary confinement on the Turkish prison island of İmralı since February 1999. He has been denied basic human rights during an on-going 25-year imprisonment, with zero legal or family contact allowed for the last three years.
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CPT) have been criticised for their silence regarding Turkey’s human rights abuses against the Kurdish leader and for withholding an inspection report on prison conditions where Öcalan is detained. Turkey has blocked the public release of the CPT report on its 2022 prison visit.
Freelance Journalist Serkan Demirel, who covers Kurdish politics in Europe for Medya News and ANF, put his questions to a remarkable name in the international law arena, Marco Sassoli, a Professor of International Law at the University of Geneva and an Executive Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).
