We demand better living conditions for Mr. Abdullah Ocalan – sign the petition
November 25, 2009 by sks
Filed under News, Support Kurds, Turkey
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To: Amnesty international & European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, CPT
The Turkish state and the government has long promised to the European Court and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, CPT, to change the brutal isolating conditions that has been held towards the Kurdish PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan during eleven years on the prison island of Imrali in the sea of Marmara in Turkey. This gave us hope that the isolation would be removed and that Ocalan’s right to life and his human rights would be respected. According to reports from both the CPT and the European Court, the condition Ocalan lives in is a clear violation of all international laws regarding the respect of a prisoner, his human rights and human dignity are therefore not reasonable. This fact threatens both his mental and physical health. That Ocalan’s physical and mental health has significantly deteriorated by his confinement on Imrali and the conditions he is held captive in, is also witnessed by his relatives and his lawyers. It has long been said by the Turkish government that the conditions Ocalan has lived in during the recent ten years should change. The actual result of this change occurred by an emergency report that Ocalan himself, his lawyers and relatives have published for the national and the international community.
Support prisoners in Syria – suggested letter to Amnesty International
November 25, 2009 by sks
Filed under Support Kurds, Syria
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Please find the draft letter and documents that are designed to be sent to Amnesty International for urgent action to support Kurdish political prisoners in Syria. Please join this urgent call by adding your organisation’s name or your individual name and email to: Maha.AbuShama@amnesty.org- Maha Abu Shama – Campaigner – Syria, Lebanon & Jordan team – Middle East and North Africa Programme – Amnesty International Secretariat – Tel: +44207 413 5640
We, the following organisations and representatives, are writing to you as a matter of great urgency, concerning the Kurdish prisoners who began a hunger strike in Syria on 30th October.
They are protesting against arbitrary arrest, torture, isolation and the denial of access to visitors and to the outside world. Kurdish people in Syria have suffered these and many other human rights abuses in Syria for many years.
These Kurdish people continue to be on hunger strike. Every day that passes, further endangers their lives and their health, and will make it more difficult to achieve a satisfactory outcome.
We call on you with desperate urgency to help us to bring this case to the notice of all governments and international human rights organisations in order to force and ensure some action to alleviate the intolerable plight of these Kurdish prisoners.
We urge you to assist us.
Yours sincerely,
Organisation / individual name
Thank you for supporting Kurdish political prisoners in Syria
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has made a public statement about the imprisonment of three Kurdish minority rights activists jailed in Syria
Amnesty International condemns the prison terms imposed yesterday on three members of Syria’s Kurdish minority convicted of “weakening national sentiment” and “inciting sectarian or racial strife or provoking conflict” on account of their legitimate exercise of freedom of expression and association.
Amnesty International considers them prisoners of conscience and is calling for their immediate and unconditional release.
Yesterday, the Damascus Criminal Court imposed three year prison sentences on Sa’dun Sheikhu, Mohammad Sa’id ‘Omar and Mustafa Jum’ah, all leading members of the Azadi (Freedom) Party, which advocates an end to discrimination against the Kurdish minority. The three were convicted of “weakening nationalist sentiment” and “inciting sectarian or racial strife or provoking conflict between sects and various members of the nation.” They denied the charges, which are based on vaguely worded provisions of the Syrian Penal Code that have often been used to penalize Kurdish minority activists and human rights defenders. The charges arise from their circulation of an Azadi party newspaper which criticized continuing discrimination against Kurds, who are estimated to number between one and a half and two million and to comprise around 10 per cent of Syria’s population.
