Human rights advocate calls for international pressure on Ankara to release Ocalan

Dr. Alaa Salama, Egyptian human rights advocate, member of Amnesty International, and Chairman of the Board of the House of Justice for International Arbitration and Advocacy, confirmed that the case of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan has been elevated to various international human rights organizations in an effort to pressure Ankara to grant him the "right to hope" a principle established by the European Court of Human Rights in 2014.

4 September, 2025 04:50

NEWS DESK

Dr. Salama revealed that Ocalan’s legal defense team has actively escalated the matter to international legal and human rights bodies, aiming to compel Turkish authorities to uphold his internationally recognized legal rights, as guaranteed by multiple international conventions and treaties.

He noted that legal offices have worked to internationalize Ocalan’s case and bring broader media attention to it as an additional means of pressure. The goal, he explained, is to raise global legal awareness regarding the conditions of his detention and to continue pressing the Turkish government to lift severe restrictions and ensure his physical release.

Despite the European Court of Human Rights’ 2014 ruling that life imprisonment without the possibility of parole constitutes a violation of the "right to hope," this principle has yet to be implemented in Abdullah Ocalan’s case. The Kurdish leader has remained imprisoned on İmralı Island since 1999.

ANHA