Political prisoners suffered food poisoning in Van Prison, including journalist Cemil Uğur. The MA correspondent is in custody for “subversive reporting”. Mehmet Siraç Aslan remains in Aksaray T Type prison despite having served his sentence. Aslan has been repeatedly tortured. Hadi Yalçın, an ill prisoner who was in Edirne F Type Closed Prison, has lost his life.
Prisoners in Van suffer from food poison
Several political prisoners suffered food poisoning in the maximum security prison in Van. It is unclear how many inmates are affected in total. Journalist Cemil Uğur is also among those suffering from food poisoning. The correspondent for the Kurdish news agency Mezopotamya (MA) has been in custody for three and a half months. He is accused of terrorism and “subversive reporting” based on articles about the so-called “helicopter torture” against two Kurdish villagers.
Uğur told his lawyer that the prisoners were given rotten chicken on Wednesday. The guards had been made aware that the meal looked “bad”. The prisoners were then told that the food was “okay,” MA quoted the lawyer as saying. However, after eating, all prisoners were taken to the hospital ward, where they were given antibiotics.
Cemil Uğur was arrested in October along with his colleague Adnan Bilen, JinNews correspondent Şehriban Abi and journalist Nazan Sala in Van. The Kurdish press had reported that two villagers were thrown from a Turkish military helicopter after their arrest near Çatak and then beaten and kicked. Cemil Uğur published the hospital report which showed that the two villagers, Servet Turgut and Osman Şiban, had sustained injuries when falling from a height. While Osman Şiban has recovered somewhat from the torture he had suffered, Servet Turgut died on 30 September from his injuries.
Prisoner suffers torture in Aksaray prison
Mehmet Siraç Aslan (22) remains in Aksaray T Type Closed Prison despite having served his sentence. Aslan was charged with “being a member of a terrorist organization” and should have been released in October 2020.
In a weekly phone call with his family, Aslan told about the rights violations in prison. Serkan Aslan said that his brother was kept in a solitary cell.
He said his brother has told him the following: “I am constantly being put in solitary confinement. They didn’t take me out to make the phone call I am entitled to last week. They did not take me to the infirmary. In response, I cut my hand. Later they took me to the infirmary and the chief officer there battered me in front of the doctor. My nose is broken and my right eye is swollen and I still have bruises on my body. My psychology is broken. I am not taken to the hospital because they don’t want me to get the assault report. This is not the first time I was beaten.”
Hadi Yalçın dies in Edirne F Type Closed Prison
Hadi Yalçın, an ill prisoner who was in Edirne F Type Closed Prison, has lost his life. After the information of Yalçın’s death was conveyed to his family, the relatives went to the prison.
It was learned that Yalçın, who had been in prison for more than 4 years on the allegation of “being a member of an illegal organization”, was treated for cancer and his application for release was rejected. Yalçın will be buried in Şırnak.