A letter supported by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Baroness Christine Blower of Starch Green, former GS NUT, Maxine Peake, Actress, Mike Mansfield QC, Gareth Peirce, BirnbergPeirce Solicitors, Geoffrey Bindman, Solicitor Prof Bill Bowring, Birkbeck, University of London, Gianni Tognoni, Secretary General, Permanent Peoples Tribunal among others was sent to Rt. Hon. Dominic Raab MP, UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs requesting the British government to urge the Turkish Justice Ministry to demand that the Turkey’s Constitutional Court rules against the discriminatory and potentially lethal amnesty law.

Reminding that on 14 April the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) passed a discriminatory law that violates the Turkish Constitution, the letter added: "This law offers amnesty, early release or temporary release, for 90,000 prisoners but excludes those prisoners convicted of terrorism-related charges. Those convicted of manslaughter, human trafficking, robbery and extortion, gang violence and corruption are eligible for release but those convicted for exercising freedom of expression, peaceful protest and criticism of the government are to be excluded."

The letter underlined that "the law was passed in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and overcrowded prisons in Turkey. The prison population has risen by 80,000 in four years with approximately 80,000 people convicted of terrorism-related crimes. Among those convicted are elected MPs, mayors, academics, civil servants, trade unionists, human rights campaigners, musicians and artists, and journalists. As one journalist remarked, ‘If I had a knife in my hand instead of a pen, I would be released.’ Turkey now has the world’s seventh highest incidence of Covid-19 infections. People have died from Covid-19 in Turkey’s prisons. The government is concealing the true number of cases."

Recalling that "the main parliamentary opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), has said it will appeal to the Constitutional Court to repeal or amend the amnesty act as it violates the principle of equality of all before the law," the signatories asked the UK government to "urge the Turkish Justice Ministry to demand that the Turkey’s Constitutional Court rules against the discriminatory and potentially lethal amnesty law."