Families of prisoners on hunger strike for 42 days call for support

The hunger strike launched in Şakran Prison has entered its 42nd day. Families of the hunger strike participants warned that the prisoners are entering the critical period and calling for public awareness.

Political prisoners in İzmir’s Aliağa Şakran Prison had launched an indefinite irreversible hunger strike on February 15 with the demand that “the isolation imposed upon the Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan be lifted and severe rights violations in the prison end”. The strike has entered its 42nd day.

With every passing day, torture and rights violations increase in the prison and healthy information can not be obtained. In the past week, prisoners in section T3 had their wards raided and the prisoners were battered.

Health of the prisoners on the hunger strike are deteriorating every day as the prison administration doesn’t provide the vital B1 vitamin for them.

“WEIGHT LOSS STARTED”

Nusvet Üzrek, aunt of hunger strike participant Zana Yaktın, said that Yaktın has lost a lot of weight and the prisoners are entering the critical period. Üzrek called for awareness. Stressing that the resistance in the prisons should be supported, Üzrek said: “Their health is deteriorating. There are no improvements in the prison conditions yet. Everything is getting worse. They should be supported. Whenever we go to visit, we are also subjected to pressure and insults. That place is not a prison, it’s a torture camp. They want there to be no visitors. The last time we visited, Zana had lost a lot of weight. Their situation is approaching the irreversible. They are getting worse. They can’t communicate among themselves because they are in separate sections. But the situation in other sections is also very bad. Torture is unimaginable.”

“I COULDN’T PULL MYSELF TOGETHER WHEN I SAW MY SON”

Hunger striker Özkan Yaşar’s mother Hazal Yaşar said her son lost a lot of weight and added: “They are under constant torture. This had been going on for a long time. We are also subjected to torture when we go for visits. They are doing all they can to keep us from visiting. They want to isolate our children. When I visited, I couldn’t recognize my son. He had lost so much weight. He talked to us, he tried to laugh. I recognized his teeth when he smiled. It was just his teeth. My child has wasted away. Two of his friends helped him into the visitation booth. He couldn’t even walk. I couldn’t pull myself together when I saw him. His condition is very bad. They are determined to resist. So we should support them.”

“BUILT FOR TORTURE”

Çiçek Aydın stated that they are subjected to insults and mistreatment even when she goes to visit her husband and added: “Something must be done about this prison. We can’t explain to people what kind of place this is. Only those who have been there understand. It was built as a torture center. The prisoners who are battered are also facing communication bans. They are constantly issuing us fines so we don’t go for visits. I have been going to prisons for 24 years, but this is the first time I have seen such a bad place. The hunger strike continues. This period has seen an increase in pressure and torture. We must speak out. The situation is horrible.”

“A COMMITTEE SHOULD GO AND INSPECT URGENTLY”

İzmir Solidarity with the Prisons Initiative chair Selma Altan said the hunger strikers have crossed the critical phase and have started to suffer irreversible damage, and called on the public and NGOs to “speak out”. Altan stated that the prisoners are subjected to severe pressure, torture and rights violations and added: “The conditions in Şakran Prison are like torture camps. There is an incredible torture. There are no rights to be violated. Each section’s warden employs different torture techniques. The hunger strikers are in critical condition now. There are people who have lost 10 kilos. They are entering the period of irreversible damage. An independent committee should go in and inspect. Let’s speak out, or it will be so much worse.”

The names of the hunger strikers are as follows:

T3 Closed Section: Zana Yaktın, İhsan Bakaç, Özgür Güçlü, Aslan İlhan

T2 Closed Section: Eren Tekin, Sinan Ekmekçi, Mustafa Akar, Cengiz Doğan, Necdet Kaya, Erhan Aryüz, Murat Duman, Kasım Özdemir

T4 Closed Section: Nayif Yargın, Veysi Kaya, Yusuf Özdemir, Mıhamed Bru, Abdullah Aksu, Şivan Bilik, Roni Yavuz, Ahmed Azad Hacihamır, Hasan Kasım, Enver Ahmet, Serkan Şahin, Mehmen Emin Dağ, Devran Makas.

Names of prisoners who joined the hunger strike on February 25 are: Cihan Asi, Derya Moray, Meryem Söylemez, Hürriyet Doğan and Mahsume Şedal.

THE REPORT

İzmir Solidarity with the Dungeons Initiative has prepared a report on the rights violations against the prisoners on hunger strike in Aliağa Şakran Prison. According to the report:

- There is a strict isolation implemented. The wards don’t see each other in the yard.

- The rollcall is done standing up.

- The wards are overcrowded, the beds are not sufficient. There are 15 to 20 people in 10-person wards. Wards are more stuffy due to overcrowding.

- The prisoners are forced to remove their shoes when going out to the yard.

- Medical needs are met either very late or aren’t met at all. The prisoners are forced to make doctor’s visits in handcuffs.

- Social areas have been banned, including the library.

- Books have been limited. The books that aren’t normally banned have been banned by the prison education institution. They have even withheld an atlas because “it is printed in too much detail”. A dictionary has been banned for being too thick.

- The prisoners who danced to a Kurdish song have received a mass punishment for solitary confinement in Şakran Type T Prison No: 2.

- The administration has started confiscating letters.

- The prisoners are forced to wear name tags with the word “terrorist” on them. Those who refuse to wear it are banned from meeting with their families or using the telephone.

- The yard is closed off with barbed wire.

- The prisoners are forced to walk in single line even while going to the visitation area.

- During open visits, 4 or 5 guards walk around between the tables and harrass the prisoners and the visitors. Prisoners protested this practice on February 7 during the open visit, and the administration ended the visit in 10 minutes.

- Prisoners who are exiled there are forcibly disrobed and battered when they don’t accept a strip search on arrival.

- In Şakran Children’s Ward, 6 children were severely tortured in January. The excuse was that the children spoke in Kurdish among themselves. One of the children doesn’t speak Turkish.

- A previously given right, the “reward visit”, has been removed without explanation. With this, prisoners whose families lived far away could meet with them for 2 to 3 hours.

- The prisoners have tried to make their voices heard with as much as 70 petitions a day for their violated rights, but the administration has refused to hold a dialogue.

- The İzmir Governorate Human Rights Watch Committee visited the prison and met with prisoners and the administration. Four days later, the pressure increased. The condition of sick prisoners is even worse. Prisoner Cengiz Eker should be given an angiography, but he hasn’t even been referred to a doctor.

- The situation in the prisons hasn’t been addressed even though legal and administrative ways have been employed.

- The prisoners have these demands: The lifting of the isolation imposed upon PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, his freedom, political prisoners’ freedom and the removal of degrading practices.