After visiting Imrali 9 times..CPT reports left on shelf

 Imrali's a bad reputation, it is a small island in the south of the Sea of ​​Marmara that belongs to the Turkish city of Bursa, as it is forbidden to fly over the island, and to ban fishing near its coast, which is one of the four major Marmara Islands.

 The first collective settlement on the island took place after the seventh century, and the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, the islanders deported to Greece.  Imrali remained empty from 1924 until 1925, it was known as a stronghold of fugitives, in 1935 a prison was opened, and it began to be used as a prison in 1936.

 During the 1940s, it became a large production center for table and linen covers, towels and socks in the Imrali prison workshops and sold all over Turkey.

 After the 1960 coup, Imrali prison was used to punish Turkish officials, in which former Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, former Foreign Minister in Menderes Fetin Rushdi Zorlu's government, and Finance Minister Hasan Polatkan were imprisoned.

In Imrali, the well-known cinematographer Yilmaz Konai was also presented, and the Romanian photographer Angulus Stavonodis, the American author who wrote the book The Midnight Train, Billy Hayes, was serving a life sentence until he escaped.

 After a complex conspiracy involving the intelligence of the dominant countries, whose plan was prepared by America, the leader Ocalan was kidnapped from Nairobi airport on February 15, 1999, and then transferred to Imrali, where he is serving a life sentence.

 Developments took place on Imrali Island after the leader Ocalan was kidnapped and transferred to it. The detainees there were transferred to other prisons, becoming a highly guarded prohibited military area. A new regime was established to follow malicious policies to break the will of the leader who described the situation there as putting a person alive inside a coffin.

24 years after the arrest of the leader Ocalan, it becomes clear that political and economic interests are above all considerations, as is the case with the humanitarian and human rights organizations concerned.

 The protocols signed and stipulated by the European Court of Human Rights prohibit torture and ill-treatment of detainees, and according to Article 3 no humiliating punishment may be imposed.

 The European Committee Against Torture (CPT), one of the most important organs of the Council of Europe, is established with the purpose of preventing torture and investigating, supporting and protecting the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty.

 This committee can visit prisons in 46 countries that are signatories to the covenants, charters and laws of the European Council, without obtaining prior permission, and none of them has the right to close the doors of prisons and police stations in front of them.  And it violated the agreements it signed, by detaining Ocalan in solitary confinement, imposing disciplinary penalties on him and preventing him from communicating with his clients and relatives.

 More than two decades after the arrest of the leader Ocalan, the Committee against Torture (CPT) did not play its role as required in putting pressure on the Turkish occupation state to end the isolation, as if its laws were ink on paper.

 The actions of this committee and its inaction throughout all these years, and its contentment with watching and issuing statements and slogans, puts its credibility, like other international institutions that were formed after the Second World War, in doubt in order to save face, the European Committee against Torture prepared shameful reports during all these years in which it spoke of human rights violations in Imrali prison, but it did not move to stop it and only monitored.

 No information has been received about the status of leader Ocalan for 18 months, as the Committee against Torture did not listen to the calls and cries of the peoples of the region demanding verifying his health and safety.

 The Committee against Torture has conducted 9 investigations since the arrest of Ocalan in 1999. After each report, it presented a number of recommendations to end the isolation, and called on the Turkish authorities to take measures to reduce it.

During the past 10 years, the committee visited Imrali prison only 3 times, and when it visited Turkey in 2021, it did not find any need to go to Imrali prison.

 The following is a summary of the reports of the European Committee against Torture on visits to Imrali prison during the years of detention of leader Ocalan:

 1999: He should not be left alone in prison

 The delegation of the Committee against Torture visited Imrali prison for the first time on 2 March 1999, and the report on this visit was issued on 5 May 1999, and stated in the report that Abdullah Ocalan should not be left alone in prison.

 Regarding the poor conditions in Imrali prison as well, the report stated, "He is left alone in a very tight security situation, and these conditions have a negative impact on Mr. Ocalan's health, and measures should be taken to prevent the continuation of this matter."

 2001: open the way to watch TV and listen to the radio

 Two years after the arrest of the leader Ocalan, the Committee against Torture visited Imrali prison between September 2 and 14, 2001, and the committee said in its report that they did not find evidence of the leader's poor health condition, but they called on the Turkish authorities to create conditions so that he could meet other prisoners.

 The committee also demanded that the leader Ocalan be given the opportunity to watch television, listen to multi-channel radio, conduct a telephone conversation with his family and his lawyer, and be able to move freely between his cell and adjacent rooms.

 2003: The right to visit may not be restricted

In the early 2000s, the Turkish state constantly prevented the leader from meeting his family and his lawyer under the pretext of “the ship is broken” or “the weather is bad.” It reduced the meeting with the family and lawyers, which was initially twice a week, to once a week, and from  then the meeting was reduced from two hours to one hour, and in flagrant violation of international conventions, it banned the meeting for weeks and thus allowed him to meet once or twice a month.

 The European Committee against Torture, which visited Imrali between 16 and 17 February 2003, revealed its report in this regard in 2004 and demanded an end to the isolation in Imrali prison, and suggested an end to the obstacles that prevent the holding of meetings. It was also mentioned in the report that the disruption of meetings for more than  three months is a dangerous and unacceptable situation for a prisoner.

 2007: It needs to be treated

 The Committee against Torture made the fourth visit to Imrali prison after the Turkish state attempted to poison the leader Ocalan. On March 1, 2007, lawyers held a press conference in Rome, and announced the leader Ocalan's hair had been examined in the laboratory and as a result it was determined the presence of chemicals at levels  high levels of strontium and chromium in his body, and this was described as systemic poisoning.

 Eighteen Kurdish politicians and activists began an irreversible open-ended hunger strike in the French city of Strasbourg, in April 2007, in order to form an independent body to treat Abdullah Ocalan, and as a result of the hunger strike that lasted for 39 days and collected more than 100,000 signatures in  within a week, the management of the European Committee against Torture decided to send a delegation to Imrali prison.

 A report on the visit of the European Committee against Torture was issued between 19 and 22 May 2007 a year later, and some recommendations were proposed so that the leader Abdullah Ocalan could communicate with the outside world and be treated. It was also mentioned in the report that the conditions of Imrali prison had not changed at all  or slightly changed compared to the visit 4 years ago.

 2010: The TV is still not available, and the use of the phone is prohibited

The fifth visit of the European Committee against Torture to Imrali took place after the construction of a new prison on the island and the dispatch of 5 other prisoners to the island.  The visit was also in July of the same year, during which steps were suggested to be taken so that Commander Ocalan could see the light in his cell, and it was also requested that the newly transferred prisoners be given the opportunity to meet with each other.

 The report also requested that  leader Abdullah Ocalan, like other prisoners in Imrali, be provided with television, and the ability to speak with his family on the phone from time to time.

 2013: Deprived of sunlight, penalties should not be accepted

 The European Committee against Torture visited Imrali prison for the sixth time on 16-17 January 2013, and revealed its report on this issue in 2014. It was mentioned in the report that highlighted again, that the leader is still deprived of sunlight and the opportunity to meet other prisoners, and that he has not been allowed to speak on the phone in years.

 In the report, it was pointed out that the "disciplinary punishment" arbitrarily imposed by the Turkish occupation state was not accepted. According to the committee, disciplinary penalties may not exceed 14 days of solitary confinement.

 2016: Turkey's claims are not credible

…

Three years later, the Committee against Torture visited Imrali Prison on 28-29 April 2016, describing its visit as “ad hoc” (not planned in advance) and unveiling its investigative report in March 2018, giving the Turkish government permission to release the report two years later.  .

 In this report, the committee stated that the prisoners in Imrali, led by Commander Abdullah Ocalan, cannot communicate with the outside world, and it was also said that the excuses of the Turkish authorities claiming that the "ship is broken" or "the weather conditions are bad" are not credible.

 2019: Excuses Banning Family Reunions Excuses for misinformation

 After 2016, and after the hunger strike to death in the prisons of the Turkish occupation state and all over the world, the Committee Against Torture (CPT) remembered Imrali prison, where a delegation of the Committee made up of six people visited prisons in Turkey between 6 and 17 May 2019 and went to  Imrali, however, the report on this visit was revealed a year later.

 It was mentioned in the report that excuses for banning family meetings are excuses to mislead and the Turkish government was called to take steps in this regard. It was also mentioned in the report that the system of isolation imposed in Imrali is not acceptable.

 2021: You did not go to Imrali while visiting Turkey

 The European Committee against Torture, which visited Imrali 8 times in order to lift the imposed isolation in Imrali, made recommendations to the Turkish state on this issue, but it did not follow up on their implementation, and in 2021 it did not even see any need to go to Imrali, where the Committee visited between  January 11 and 25, 2021, many prisons in Turkey, but it did not go to Imrali prison.

 2022: Report on Turkey without Imrali

 The Commission published its 2021 Public Works Report in April, in which a report was prepared on the visit to 9 member states, including Turkey. The interesting thing was that no information was included in the report on Imrali High Security Prison.

 last visit

 Leader Ocalan is in the worst strict isolation today, after 23 years of his arrest, amid preventing him from meeting with his clients and his family, and keeping his conditions and health secret for nearly 18 months.

 The European Court of Human Rights has stated that it is time to release the leader Ocalan, citing the court's decision issued on March 18, 2014, according to which no one may be held in prison for the rest of his life.

 The aggravated conditions in Imrali, which violate all international rules and laws, sparked outrage around the world, as 350 lawyers from 22 European countries submitted a request to the Ministry of Justice to meet with leader Abdullah Ocalan.

 After appeals to reveal the conditions of leader Ocalan, a delegation from the European Committee against Torture (CPT) visited Turkey's prisons between September 20 and 29, especially Imrali prison, to investigate the terms and conditions of leader Ocalan's imprisonment.

 The committee indicated that it will prepare the report in March of 2023.

 In light of all these matters, the "Right to Hope" law must be implemented, leader Ocalan re-trial, and his release after spending a long period in prison, which violates the laws signed by the Turkish occupation state.

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 ANHA