​​​​​​​Juma'a: not releasing prisoners in Turkey amounts to death sentence

On April 7, 2020, the Turkish parliament discussed a bill to release prisoners, to ease overcrowding in its prisons and prevent the new Coronavirus outbreak, a bill or law put forward by the Turkish parliament that faced considerable criticism inside Turkey, because it included releasing the prisoners convicted on criminal charges, and excluded thousands of political prisoners.

With the rapid and dangerous spread of the new Coronavirus in Turkey, and the threat on the lives of nearly a quarter of a million detainees, the Turkish state continues to put all its critics in prison.

The move is not enough because it includes prisoners who are criminally convicted and excludes opinion conscience,

The Turkish authorities have recently announced their intention to enact a bill that could lead to the early release of 45,000 prisoners, the co-chair of the Qamishlo-based Human Rights Organization in the Al Jazeera region said. "This step is not enough because it includes prisoners convicted on criminal charges, and excludes a very large number of prisoners of conscience, primarily journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, academics and opposition politicians who are imprisoned simply because of they do their job or exercise their rights."

"These are the ones who should be released unconditionally, as the Turkish authorities are holding thousands of them under anti-terrorism laws on pure hearsay," she said.

Warnings of easy spread of infection in prisons

The Turkish state rights groups warned that infection could spread easily among prisoners, while Amnesty International and a number of other organizations called on Turkey to immediately and unconditionally release journalists, human rights defenders and other defendants or baseless convicts simply for exercising their rights, and several parliamentarians and human rights activists issued calls for releasing detainees in Turkey to prevent  in fear of prisons to become a hotbed for the deadly virus.

"The Turkish state has recorded a significant decline in protecting the human rights and public freedoms, with increased number of detainees by nearly 300,000, and with the outbreak of COVID-19, it must reconsider their release, especially those suffering from chronic diseases," she said. 

"These prisoners may be vulnerable to communicable infections and further development of the disease. The authorities should also unconditionally release  those unfoundedly detained," she said.

"For a country like Turkey, the number of the detainees of conscience, opposition politicians, journalists and human rights activists reaches about 100,000, they live in an inadequate healthy environment," Avin said.

"Public health issues cannot be addressed in any country, especially in the face of the COVID-9 crisis. If the situation of prisoners is not taken into account who have the right of the healthcare. putting the prisoner's life at risk is not part of the prison sentence, this issue is very important when the disease is likely to be fatal," she said.

Avin called on the Turkish authorities to maintain the healthcare for every detainee and prisoner:

- abide by providing the following up to prisoners.

-provide safe and healthy places for all prisoners.

- Provide adequate healthcare.

-Provide information on health prevention measures and a healthy way of life.

- Implementation of primary health prevention measures.

- Provide tests and means of detecting and treating the infections to reduce the risk of transmission and quarantine.  

-To begin isolating and treating injured cases within the prison, whether for detainees or prison workers.

"The government should work to improve conditions of detention and provide medical care," she said.

Juma'a called on the Turkish authorities to open prisons and detention to inspectors, international observers and independents in light of the global crisis of the outbreak of the Coronavirus.

A.J

ANHA