Ahmet Türk, Celal Doğan, Kezban Hatemi, Nesrin Nas, Oya Baydar, Rıza Türmen, Tarhan Erdem and Zülfü Livaneli sent a letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asking for equality in the law of execution to be discussed today.

In the letter sent to Erdoğan about the Law on the Execution of Penalties and Security Measures  which the Parliament is expected to discuss today, Ahmet Türk, Celal Doğan, Kezban Hatemi, Nesrin Nas, Oya Baydar, Rıza Türmen, Tarhan Erdem and Zülfü Livaneli wrote: "The content of the law proposal reveals that the warnings and concerned expressed have not been taken into account and that the provisions in the proposal constitute a complete contradiction to the principle of equality of execution law, which is accepted by universal human rights standards."

The letter, which pointed out that the Covid-19 outbreak posed a great risk for prisons, added: "Due to controversial arrest warrants and convictions in our country, penalties and detention centers are full of journalists, writers, politicians, rights defenders, civil society leaders and opposition parties members. These people have been arrested or sentenced for terrorist crimes without any justification. Unfortunately, this proposal was prepared without considering this fact."

The letter continued: "The approval of such a measure will not only cause irreparable consequences in prisons, but will also deeply undermine the public conscience and the sense of justice in the society."

The signatories invited the Turkish Grand National Assembly Justice Committee, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and all political parties to take action on this issue.