As known to the public, Abdullah Öcalan, who has been convicted in İmralı Prison, has not been able to contact his lawyers since 27th July 2011. For the last three years since the family visit on 11th September 2016, he has been able to see his brother only once. The short visit was on 12th January 2019. In the prison where all means of communication were prohibited, no letter sent by his family and lawyers could be answered. The applications were blocked for years under cover of "broken ship" and "weather-related cancellations" but after the attempted coup of 15 July, all appeals were rejected unlawfully by the Office of Judge of Execution. Lawyer and family visits were prohibited with the rulings dated 21.07.2016, 02.03.2018 and 04.09.2018. With the decision of the disciplinary board as of 14.09.2018, family visits were banned for another 3-month.
The lawyers filed criminal complaints about the violations that have occurred due to all these experiences. Reporting was made to the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry, CPT, The Constitutional Court, and ECtHR. Veysi Aktaş, a prisoner in İmralı Prison, had appealed to the Constitutional Court on 21/09/2015. The Court, on 06/02/2019, found a violation of right to communication. In its justification the Court indicated that the prison management’s decision preventing Aktaş from making phone calls was implemented for a long time without applying a time limit and without making a regular reexamination based on recent information and documents to see if the conditions leading to the punishment were still in existence. The Court stated that the ban did not comply with the principle of proportionality. The decision of the Court is a sign that isolation (confinement) practices have become continuous for the prisoners in İmralı Prison. Despite the decision, isolation still goes on in the prison.
Isolation is aimed at depriving prisoners of all communication facilities and the suspension of social relations. In this respect, the isolation can be considered as a circle of loneliness because it does not let the prisoner communicate with anyone forcing the person to hear only his own voice
To move on, this isolation is called the Imrali Execution Regime; the isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan and three prisoners is contrary to the Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Law on the Execution of Sentences and Security Measures. In addition, the execution regime in İmralı Prison is against the principle of Equality, which is embodied in the Constitution, and Article 90 of the Constitution, which refers to international conventions in the context of the principles of the rule of law and fundamental rights and freedoms.
The convicted, as referred to in Article 3 of the ECHR, cannot be subjected to an inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment, regardless of the penalty, nor can they be imprisoned against the provisions of the Convention’s Article 5/1. As per article 2 of Law No. 5275 on the Execution of Sentences and Security Measures; during the execution of the Penal and Security measures, cruel, inhuman, and degrading acts cannot be carried out. In the same article, it has been legislated that implementation will be made without discrimination in terms of race, language, religion, sect, nationality, colour, gender or social origin, political or other ideas or thoughts, and other social status. Therefore, it is seen that absolute isolation applied in İmralı Prison has no legal basis, that there is an illegal execution system and that it is managed and maintained by the Administrative Structure of the State and in a security-oriented point of view.
All because of the issues mentioned above, in order to urge the authorities to lift this isolation, the co-chair of DTK (Democratic Society Congress) and HDP deputy Leyla Güven started a indefinite and non-rotating hunger strike on 8th November 2018, which has been lasting for 128 days.
The demand Leyla Güven declared was adopted by many prisoners as just and legitimate, and they started indefinite-rotating hunger strikes as well on 27th November 2018, which later turned into indefinite, non-rotating hunger strikes on 16th December.
Today (15/03/2019) the number of indefinite, non-rotating hunger strikers in prisons of Turkey has reached to 5,000. The first group of 41 people, who started the hunger strike on 16 December 2018, are on the 90th day of their actions. In order to end the hunger strikes, the government and the authorities have not taken any steps that could fulfil the demands of the activists and remove the isolation. For this reason, the number of indefinite and irreversible hunger strikers is increasing day by day. The health conditions of Leyla Güven and the prisoners in the first group are approaching the critical phase as of the day arrived.
The physical and metabolic destruction caused by hunger is familiar to us all. As is known, in case of long-term hunger there are negative effects on all systems within the human body. During hunger strikes, people take sugar or sweetened water, salt, carbonate, vitamin B1 (thiamine), and water. These substances can only provide basal energy need at a minimum level. Further energy need is compensated by tissue destruction. Tissues have a certain life span. Some are renewed daily whereas others are produced within longer periods. As proteins, vitamins and minerals are not taken during those strikes, there appear many problems from various pains over tissues to dysfunction of organs. Due to hunger, the immune systems gets weakened, and as a result, the number of infection-fighting white blood cells drop and then the metabolism becomes vulnerable to infections, which are mostly very serious ones. Infections are one of the causes of death during hunger strikes. Rapid muscle wasting brings about fatique, causing a necessity of assistance to lead one’s life.
With the hunger strikes lengthening out, it is known that hunger strikers may develop severe weight loss, exhaustion, fatigue, difficulty in walking, visual disturbances, low blood pressure, head, joint and muscle aches, nausea-vomiting, insomnia, and hypersensitivity to sound and noise. Between the 40th and 50th days, 10-20 % of body mass is lost and the loss continues increasingly. With the body mass index dropping below 15, critical phase starts. It means the destruction has moved from musculoskeletal system to organs. Growing damages of organs invite death and also become a source of serious health problems even if the strike is ended. Also, as the process continues for longer periods, on the onset of vomiting after the ingestion of the liquid and salt, dehydration may result in a number of destructive health consequences With the prolonged fasting, the immune system is weakened, and the hunger strike activists could become susceptible to infections, which has the capacity to cause death after multiple organ failure, as we have witnessed at home and in the world in the past years.
The age, diseases, and gender of hunger strikers can lead to the acceleration of the demolition and the persistence of the problems. The fact that the number of prisoners on hunger strikes has increased has made it difficult to follow their medical conditions. Those whose general condition has deteriorated may not receive adequate follow-up and support. Also, intake of inadequate or uncontrolled sugar, water, salt and immobility may cause bedsores and quicken the process leading to death.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to receive sufficient data on the health status of the hunger strikers so far. It is known that the weight loss continues to be significant and the Body Mass Indexes have decreased, from the information provided by their families and lawyers.
As of today, hundreds of people have entered into a critical phase of permanent damage or life threat and nearly five thousand people being on hunger strikes is a very serious problem. Hunger strikes have now become a life-threatening problem.
We would like to share our assessment on the medical conditions of hunger strikers and human rights violations exposed on them.
Diyarbakır E Type Closed Penitentiary Institution
Three women prisoners who had started a strike on December 16, 2018 were firstly exposed to disciplinary proceedings. Although they reached the 98th day of the hunger strike, they have not yet been given carbonate. From the interview with Evin Kaya the hunger striker, we learned that she had been experiencing gingival bleeding and other medical problems caused by infections. We observed a swelling over her cheek. We found out that other hunger strikers had reached to the critical phase as well.
Diyarbakır D Type Closed Penitentiary Institution
There are 5 people who started the strike in this prison on 16th December. On the day they started a hunger strike action, a disciplinary investigation was opened by the administration and they were banned from some social activities. The prisoners were put in the same room and there was a companion. Health checks are not performed regularly because they do not go to the infirmary. Gingival bleeding and intra-oral wounds have occurred in some of the prisoners. Weight and blood pressure checks are done by medical personnel. The prisoners have been experiencing intolerance of light, over-sensitivity to noise and difficulty in walking; they have difficulty in sleeping. On 1st May, over a hundred prisoners embarked on hunger strikes. Our interviews have revealed that hunger strikers started to feel over-sensitive to light, smell and noise. They have stated that they have blurred vision and staggers. Due to long-lasting hunger strikes, the first group of hunger strikers have difficulty in walking and developed weakness and fatigue. We have also observed skin dehydration and flaking.
A total of 12 prisoners went on strike in groups in the High Security Prisons No. 1 and
No. 2 based on the Penitentiary Institution Campus in Elazığ.
No 1 High Security Penitentiary Institution;
On 16 December 2018, 3 prisoners and on 5 January 2019, 3 more prisoner embarked upon hunger strike. The first thing the prison administration did was to conduct a disciplinary proceeding against them. They have been banned from social activities. The second group of three prisoners who started the hunger strike 20 days after the first group were put together in the same room. They were taken to the section where there were other criminal groups for 7 days. The hunger strikers stay in a room for 3 people and do not have a companion. For a long period of time, the basic needs (Salt, Sugar, etc.) were either not provided or provided irregularly. Only lemons were given apart from salt and sugar and no additional fluids that strikers requested were provided. The group who started their strike on December 16th were able to get vitamin B after the 25th day, and it was irregular. However, demands for vitamins and some additional liquids have been met regularly for the past weeks (since 08 Feb. 2019). In the latest interview with the first group of hunger strikers:
Harun Alkan: He stated that when he started a hunger strike, he was 81 kilos and for now he has decreased to 65 kilos. He stated that health problems have increased recently due to hunger strike such as vomiting, headache, dizziness and blackness. He reported that he had skin rash from the waist down, and he had also had problems in sleeping for a month. Harun ALKAN said he had sent letters to many institutions related to the rights violations he experienced in prison, but he was informed that these letters had been confiscated by the prison administration.
Murat Ergen: The prisoner stated that he had been on an indefinite and non-rotating hunger strike since 05.01.2019. He stated that when he started a hunger strike, he fell 53.5 kilos and for now he had fallen to 45.6 kilos He reported that he often experienced problems such as headache, dizziness, skin flaking and fatigue.
Metin Serhat: The prisoner, who has been on hunger strike since 16/12/2018, stated that he had fallen from 72 kilos to 57 kilos. He stated that blood glucose was not checked.
It has been determined that the above-mentioned health problems of many prisoners started in the prison.
No. 2 High Security Penitentiary Institution;
On 26 December 2018, 3 prisoners began this strike. Then, another prisoner who had already started hunger strike on 16 December 2018, with 5 prisoners in the Patnos L type, was transferred here. Two hunger strikers were placed in one room and one person was kept in a single cell. Then, the prisoner, who was brought from Patnos, was kept separate in a single cell. Three of the prisoners were taken to the same room after the attempts by our Platform and the initiatives of the private lawyers of the prisoners. However, from time to time, the administration also took some of the hunger strikers into single cells and put pressure on them to quit the strike. The prisoner Ahmet TEKİN, who began strike on 26th December, was kept alone in a single cell until 05.02.2019 and then put into the same room with Mahsum Ceylan who started his strike on 05.02.2019. Reşit Teymur, who started the strike on 04.02.2019, is the only one in the cell. There are still no companions to the prisoners. The physician of the institution rejects the requests for a companion by saying that he would not give the companion permission until their situations become critical. The prisoners on the strike have not been fully provided with substances and additional liquid. Only salt, sugar and lemon were given for a long time. Weight and blood pressure controls were performed irregularly. They were given vitamin B1 after the 20th day. Prisoners have weight losses of between 10 and 12.5 KGs.
In the latest interview held with the first group of hunger strikers:
Ahmet Tekin: The prisoner, who has been on hunger strike since 26.12.2018, stated that he lost 9-10 kilos. He said that he was visited by an institution physician once a week, but medical checks were performed by nurses. He stated that the health problems increased due to hunger strike, and he also developed some sort of sensitivity towards voice, hearing problems and blurred vision. On the 30th and 40th days there were problems such as bloody stool, spasms in the stomach, feet and arm; and recently, the sleep disorder has increased as well. He stated that he remained in a single room until the 42nd day. Recently, he has experienced nose bleeding and informed the nurse about this situation but no physician has examined him yet.
Yasin Güngör: The prisoner, who has been on hunger strike since 26.12.2018; stated that health checks were done once a week, that the physician came in once a week and that medical personnel made the controls in the corridor. He stated that his blood pressure had been constantly high since he started his hunger strike. He has lost 17 kilos. His health problems have recently increased due to the hunger strike; especially hypersensitivity to noise and odor. He stated that there were skin rash and blurred vision. Especially in the mornings, there has been blood in the saliva and wounds in the mouth.
Cengâver Aykul: The prisoner is on a hunger strike indefinitely. He has lost about 15 kilos. He said that they had not been given carbonate since the beginning. Health checks have been made but he has problems with blood pressure.
Reşit Teymur: He has been on indefinite and non-rotating hunger strike. He has been in single cell for 11 months. He has lost about 5-6 kilos.
As human rights defenders, lawyers and medical chambers, we call on the authorities to be more sensitive in order to protect the hunger strikers’ right to life and right to health.
The Government must care about the hunger strikers’ demands before it has turned into a dangerous phase. As of today, the 5.000 hunger strikers demand only one thing: the termination of isolation practices. The Government should take on this responsibility. Also, any negative consequence related to rights to life and health resulting from hunger strikes will be the Government’s fault. For this reason, relevant authorities, especially the Ministry of Justice, must take action as soon as possible.
In Conclusion;
The Government must take the necessary measures and take action to evaluate the demands in peaceful ways before any deaths occur. We invite the Ministry of Justice, national and international law and human rights institutions to take action in order to approach the problem on the basis of fundamental rights and freedoms and to meet the demands accordingly.
PLATFORM FOR MONITORING HUNGER STRIKES
Diyarbakır Bar Association
Human Rights Association, Diyarbakır Branch
Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, Diyarbakır Office
Medical Chamber of Diyarbakır
Association of Lawyers for Freedom