"Maat for Peace" researcher calls on CPT to pressure Turkey to allow lawyers to meet Ocalan

Researcher at the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights, Mohammed Mukhtar, affirmed their total rejection to the arbitrary detention of leader Abdullah Ocalan, saying, "We express our rejection to the ill-treatment Ocalan is subject to."

In a special statement to our agency, Mukhtar considered that depriving Ocalan of a fair trial is a gross violation of human rights, according to Article Fourteen of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article Six of the European Convention on Human Rights, and added: "Based on this rejection, we are in solidarity with the Arab initiative's  requests for Ocalan's freedom, calling for the need to release Abdullah Ocalan, and rejecting all the human rights violations to which he is exposed on Imrali Island; preventing him from obtaining a fair trial and subjecting him to ill-treatment and arbitrary detention."

The researcher at Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights stressed that the European Committee Against Torture (CPT) must pressure the Turkish government to take the necessary measures to ensure that all detainees in Imrali prison can meet their families and their lawyers, especially Ocalan.

Mukhtar said, "The material conditions for Ocalan's detention are still not satisfactory, while the Turkish government must take a set of reassuring measures to the public opinion, allowing a visit for Mr. Ocalan by international organizations and human rights bodies to check on the treatment he is receiving, and they must allow Ocalan's lawyers to visit him and allow his family to check on him."

Mukhtar clarified that this will only happen if various human rights organizations put pressure on the Turkish government.

Mukhtar called on the Council of Europe's European Committee Against Torture for to pay attention to Ocalan's conditions, who is being subjected to strict isolation, severe human rights violations and ill-treatment, especially in light of his continued arbitrary detention and a ban on his visit, in addition to the intransigence in obtaining a fair trial.

In the conclusion of his speech, the researcher at Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights, Mohammed Mukhtar, affirmed that ill-treatment and the prevention of appropriate medical treatment are a form of torture under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights as well as the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment issued in 1989.

D.H

ANHA