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A major European Parliament conference titled ‘Political Prisoners: Isolation, ill-treatment and torture’ will be held on 11 April, 14.00 – 17.00 CET, in Brussels. Several international lawyers’ organisations have announced the critical conference which is set to address the detention conditions of political prisoners in Turkey and Europe, in particular the isolation of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan.
A key panel will focus on conditions in Turkey’s Imrali island prison, where Öcalan is held incommunicado. An international delegation of lawyers in opposition to isolation practices are scheduled to present their findings of a January visit to Turkey. In 2022 the Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee visited Imrali island but the Turkish authorities have since barred publication of their report which details an inspection of conditions in the prison, adding to the urgency of the conference.
The event is organised by the Association for Democracy and International Law (MAF-DAD), in collaboration with the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH) and European Democratic Lawyers (ADH). Around 100 international legal professionals are due to attend, including from Catalonia, Basque Country, Hungary, Germany and Turkey.
One of the speakers will be the lawyer Mazlum Dinç from Asrın Law Office, the firm which represents Öcalan in Turkey. They have been obstructed from visiting or contacting their client, who has been imprisoned since 1999, for 36 months. Three other prisoners are detained in Imrali prison – they are also in total isolation. The ‘right to hope’ concept in international human rights law will be discussed with regards to prisoners with life sentences and the possibility for review.
While an element of the conference’s aim is to strike at the isolation policies used against Öcalan and other prisoners the scope of the issues is wider: there are many political prisoners across Turkey and Europe whose rights are severely violated, leading to deteriorating and untreated health issues. One of the prisoners whose situation will be highlighted is Ilaria Salis, a teacher and an anti-fascist from Italy who is wrongfully jailed in Hungary, with fears for her safety. Political prisoners from Catalonia and Basque Country will also be discussed.
The conference fits within a larger campaign to break the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan. The campaign against isolation is emblematic of the long-running struggle to solve the Kurdish issue in Turkey via democratic means. Conference organiser, lawyer Mahmut Şakar, told Medya News: “This is not our first conference on the issue. We also organised an international signature campaign, and we are awaiting the results of the legal delegation that visited Turkey earlier this year. We have hope that this will be fruitful.”
Watch a live stream of the event on our Twitter X feed.
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