Prisoners put in punishment cell allegedly for 'writing book in Kurdish'

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Remziye Tosun has submitted a parliamentary question regarding the allegations about the solitary confinement of three prisoners in İzmir, western Turkey.

Mehmet Yavuz and two other prisoners whose names were not disclosed were put in punishment cells on April 1 at the Şakran No. 2 Type-T Prison, Tosun said in her question.

Before he was put in confinement, Mehmet Yavuz told his family that he had been given a 15-day solitary confinement penalty.

The MP asked Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ whether the allegations that the prisoners were disciplined because they wrote a book in Kurdish were true.

Ill-treatment

Tosun also filed an application with the Parliamentary Committee for Inquiry on Human Rights regarding the alleged ill-treatment of a prisoner.

İbrahim Aşkan, 24, was transferred from the Şakran prison to the Tekirdağ No. 2 Type-F Prison, noted the MP. During the process, he was allegedly strip-searched, battered and tortured.

He was put in a cell where sewer pipes had burst and the toilet was unusable, Tosun said, citing his family's account, adding that correction officers continuously threatened him.

The prison administration did not process Aşkan's petitions about the issue, and his phone calls with his family to describe the rights violations to them were cut off in four separate incidents, Tosun further noted.

The MP demanded the parliamentary commission take action on the issue. (AS/VK)