Massive Kurdish mobilizations after rumours spread on social media about the death of Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali continue.

The Platform of Solidarity with Kurdistan in Euskal Herria issued a statement saying: “We strongly denounce the system of isolation and torture being applied in Imrali against the Kurdish leader and demand that the international political and legal institutions hold the Turkish government accountable for the health and life of Abdulah Öcalan and that it complies with international law.”

The statement recalled that “on 14 March, the news broke on social networks of the alleged death on the Imrali prison island of Abdullah Öcalan. The Kurdish leader has been imprisoned for 22 years since his kidnapping orchestrated by an international conspiracy and for much of his conviction he has been the victim of total isolation, depriving him of the right to meet with his family and lawyers.”

The statement adds: “The Kurdish movement has asked for explanations about his state of health and has demanded to be able to hold a meeting with him through his lawyers, permission that has been denied. It is not the first time that this type of news has circulated on social networks, but Turkish institutions do not clarify or allow the veracity of this information to be verified. Likewise, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture is not responding to the successive calls and complaints made by human rights organizations in the face of the situation of isolation that Öcalan is suffering, so the Kurdish political and social articulated movement calls for massive mobilizations around the world.”