Internationalist Commune of Rojava republishes letter by Öcalan about prison life on Imrali island
The Internationalist Commune of Rojava republished a letter from Abdullah Öcalan about the conditions in solitary confinement in Imrali.
The Internationalist Commune of Rojava republished a letter from Abdullah Öcalan about the conditions in solitary confinement in Imrali.
As part of the Global Free Öcalan Days, the Internationalist Commune of Rojava republished a brochure with a letter from Abdullah Öcalan about the conditions in solitary confinement and how he resists under these circumstances.
In the letter he wrote in 2011 to the European Court of Human Rights, Abdullah Öcalan outlines the conditions of his solitary confinement on Imralı Island, where he has been held since 1999. He describes the severe isolation, limited communication, and psychological challenges he faces, shedding light on his experiences & methods of resistance during over two decades of imprisonment.
Öcalan wrote: "I have now spent twelve years in solitary confinement on this island. İmralı is notorious as an island where high level state officials were put to serve sentences throughout history. The climate is both extremely humid and also harsh. It causes the body’s constitution to deteriorate physically. Add to this isolation in a closed room, and the debilitating effect on the constitution is amplified still more. Also, I was placed on this island as I was starting to age. I was detained under the supervision of the Special Forces Command for a long time. I think it is about two years since the Ministry of Justice took over my supervision. I had no means of communicating with the outside world other than one book, one newspaper, and one magazine at a time, and a radio that only tuned to one station."