Sheikho: Politicians and thinkers face risk of death in Turkish prisons

The co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) Council- Euphrates branch described the prisons of the Turkish state as a "danger of death" for politicians and intellectuals, especially in Imrali, in light of the spread of the Corona virus in Turkish prisons.

14 April, 2020 11:27

KOBANI

On Monday, the Turkish authorities announced that 17 prisoners in five prisons were infected with the virus, three of whom died while being treated in hospital, amid increasing concerns about the lives of thousands of political prisoners who Ankara refuses to release.

Ahmed Sheikho, the co-chair of the Democratic Union Party, the Euphrates region, told our agency that prisons and crowded closed places are the most vulnerable to the spread of the virus, especially in Turkey, where prisons are filled with prisoners of opinion and politicians, and this poses great concerns among the Kurdish people over the life of the leader Abdullah Ocalan in Imrali prison, as well as tens of thousands of detainees in wake of tremendous rise in the number of people infected with the virus.

The Turkish state has sparked controversy as the parliament issued a law requiring release of felonies from prisons, while the law excludes political detainees, prisoners of opinion and journalists, on the impact of the high numbers of infected people in Turkey.

"The Turkish authorities have announced 3 deaths in their prisons, and we have doubts about that, and fears for Imrali prison, the Turkish state always hides the truth, it is possible that the numbers are much more, so the authorities must understand the situation, there is a threat to humanity," added Sheikho, “the release of the detainees will alleviate the great catastrophe."

This comes as the Democratic Society Movement, TEV-DEM, issued a written statement yesterday, in which it appealed to all organizations concerned with humanitarian and human rights, led by the United Nations organizations to draw attention to Turkish prisons, and to bear responsibility for what the Turkish chauvinism practiced against Imrali Island and political detainees amid the spread of Corona pandemic.

J.O

ANHA