Human rights activists require physical freedom of leader Ocalan

The Lawyers' Union and the Syrian Initiative for the Leader Abdullah Ocalan's Freedom in the Euphrates Canton issued a statement on Wednesday, which was read in Kurdish and Arabic, in front of the Social Justice House in Kobane city. Dozens of members from the Lawyers' Union, the Syrian Initiative for the Leader Abdullah Ocalan's Freedom, and the Autonomous Administration institutions participated in the statement.

The statement noted that "Turkey, despite being a member of the European Court of Human Rights, continues to deny Abdullah Ocalan's right to hope, in clear violation of European and international law."

The statement clarified that any prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment has the right to benefit from this right after 25 years of imprisonment, while the leader Abdullah Ocalan has been imprisoned for more than 26 years.

The statement emphasized that Abdullah Ocalan's case "is no longer the issue of the Kurdish people alone, but rather the issue of all the peoples of the region." It stressed that the democratic nation philosophy he proposed in addition to his constant calls for peace and democracy demonstrate the humanitarian and political dimension of his case.

It noted that, "Given the Turkish state's refusal to implement the laws of this court, and because the denial of the right to hope is explicitly stated in its laws, the detention of the leader Abdullah Ocalan is purely political and has no legal basis."

In coincidence with the meeting of the Council of Europe ministers to discuss the leader Abdullah Ocalan's case, the Bar Association and the Syrian Initiative called on all United Nations organizations and the Human Rights Council to pressure Ankara to comply with its legal obligations and release him without delay.

J.J