Prisoners Denied Newspapers

The Human Rights Association (IHD ) branch in Adana (southern Turkey) has received a letter by one Ayhan Bozkaya saying that the prison management does not give prisoners newspapers.

IHD has protested

Ethem Acikalin of the IHD told bianet yesterday (13 August) that the association had applied to the Penal Execution Judge and the Ministry of Justice , protesting against the fact that daily newspapers and periodicals were not allowed into prison despite the fact that there was no court order to confiscate them.

The letter of objection said that this was obstructing the right to inform oneself and that it represented a violation of international agreements that Turkey was part of.

Acikalin said that prisoners at an F-type prison in Kürkcüler (Adana) had been given newspapers after human rights associations had publicised their plight.

ECHR has warned Turkey on prison conditions

On 3 July, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had convicted Turkey for the inhumane conditions of imprisonment. Prisoner Erdal Tan of the Sincan F-type prison in Ankara had been forbidden from sending a letter to the "Radikal" newspaper.

The ECHR had decreed that Articles 144 and 147 of Regulation 647, relating to correspondences in penal institutions were not clear-cut enough. The court called for the "privacy of private correspondence" and the right to privacy to be respected, following Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. (EÖ/NZ)