The co-chairs of the Executive Council of the KCK (Community of Kurdistan Societies) warned in a statement of plans by the Turkish secret service to assassinate Mazlum Dağ and Abdurrahman Er. The two Kurds are sentenced to death and are held in Hewlêr (Erbil) prison. They have been on a hunger strike since 18 May against the prison conditions. According to their relatives, they are in very poor condition.

Dağ and Er are accused of shooting dead the Turkish Vice Consul, secret service officer Osman Köse and two other people in a luxury restaurant in Hewlêr on 17 July 2019. In February 2020, Dağ and Er were sentenced to death in a show trial under pressure from Turkey.

"Dağ and Er were not involved in the incident"

In their statement, the KCK leaders stressed that Dağ and Er were not directly involved in the incident and called for this misinformation to be corrected: "It has become known that Mazlum Dağ and Abdurrahman Er have been in Hewlêr prison for more than 100 years. They have been on hunger strike for 50 days and some organizations have issued statements to draw attention to this situation. The conditions of these two prisoners should be known to the public and democratic public opinion. They should be protected. First of all, there is some misinformation about the two prisoners that is reflected in public opinion. This information should be corrected and the public properly informed about Mazlum Dag and Abdurrahman Er. They have no direct relation to the shooting of an MIT member in Hewlêr and were not involved in this action, but only assisted the friends who carried out the action and who remained on duty. However, Mazlum Dağ and Abdurrahman Er are publicly referred to as 'two patriots who shot an MIT member'. This misinformation is also reflected in the statements made by some of our organizations."

"Targeted action against the killer of Diyar Xerib"

The co-chairs of the KCK said that the MIT member shot dead in Hewlêr is the person who ordered the assassination of Diyar Xerib. Xerib was from Sulaymaniyah and was a member of the KCK Presidential Council and the PKK Central Committee. He died on 5 July 2019 in a targeted airstrike by the Turkish army in Qandil. The KCK leaders paid tribute to Diyar Xerib and said he was a "valuable revolutionary from South Kurdistan who dedicated his life to the cause of Kurdistan and was loved by everyone.

The KCK said: "The KDP reflects this uneasiness by torturing Mazlum Dağ and Abdurrahman Er, who are detained in Hewlêr Prison. The prisoners have gone on a hunger strike against the torture. The KDP's uneasiness and the attitude it has taken as a result are incomprehensible and unacceptable. The population, civil society organizations, democratic institutions and the public should know that torture is taking place in Hewlêr prison and should support the two prisoners."

MIT assassination plan

The Turkish state is planning to murder Dağ and Er in prison, the KCK Executive Council leaders said and added: "Some of the agents who spied for MIT and who were in charge of this planned assassination were arrested by our forces. One of them is a spy named Yasin Ali Hıdır. This person used to work as a prison warden. He was hired by MIT to organize other prisoners for the murder. For this he received money. After the massacre was carried out, he was promised a very large sum of money. So the situation of the prisoners is critical and the plans against them are serious. Mazlum Dağ and Abdurrahman Er are in the hands of the KDP. The KDP is responsible for their lives and safety. If something happens to them, the KDP would be responsible."

The KCK called on all democratic organizations and institutions to act urgently and said: "The prisoners are in mortal danger; they must be protected before it is too late. A delegation should be allowed into prison to see their current situation."