He demanded freedom for his arrested friend, he is now arrested himself

* Emir Karakum and his arrested friend Rıdvan Akbaş's mother Sabire Akbaş in the bazaar where she was working.

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Emir Karakum is a graduate of History from the Ondokuz Mayıs University.

Last year, he wrote a letter to bianet and said that his friend was in prison for reasons of "attending a press statement" and "chanting slogans".

We reported other news about Rıdvan Akbaş, a student of Ankara University Faculty of Languages, History and Geography, before. He was one of the students facing charges for being a member of four organizations in the trial over student's protests in Ankara. He has been acquitted.

However, now, Emir Karakum himself is in prison. He is currently arrested in the Bafra Type T Prison in Samsun province in the Black Sea.

He has been arrested based on informant statements.

This time, his friend from university, Betül, has written a letter about Emir Karakum's condition and recounted the physical and psychological violence that he has been subjected to behind bars.

Arrested via video conference, beaten in prison

Speaking to bianet, lawyer Ceren Yılmaz has said that while Emir was being tortured in prison, he was made to listen to the "Mehter Anthem", the anthem of the Ottoman military band. She has indicated that "during his entry to Bafra Type T Prison, Emir was severely battered and she saw the bruises and swelling in his face even when she visited him in prison a month later".

The lawyer has shared the following information:

"The operation was İstanbul-based, but Emir was taken into custody in Samsun. He attended the hearing [via video conference] on the Audio and Visual Information System (SEGBİS); he was arrested like that.

"He was first taken to the Samsun Prison; there were no political prisoners. As he went on a hunger strike, he was transferred to Bafra.

"Even though his legal status is an arrestee, he is held in the aggravated life sentence conditions in the Bafra Prison.

"He is held in a solitary confinement cell and the cell has no ventilation. He is taken somewhere else to get some air for an hour a day, but he stays there on his own. He can only see the wardens".

Yılmaz has noted that Emir filed a criminal complaint about the torture with "Mehter Anthem", adding that the criminal complaint has ended in a decision of non-prosecution on the grounds that "wardens may exceed the right to use of force while maintaining security".

Karakum has been arrested for "membership of a [terrorist / illegal] organization"; the investigation is ongoing and he has not yet been indicted.

Ceren Yılmaz has added that Emir and his family have requested his transfer to prisons near İstanbul, where the trial will be held.

'Ban on visits, communication, solitary confinement'

In her letter, Betül has mentioned the detention and prison conditions of Emir Karakum, briefly writing the following:

"Emir was detained in an İstanbul-based operation on December 3, 2021 Friday. He was arrested at Samsun Courthouse on December 6 and taken to Samsun Type T Prison. He faced several rights violations in prison. Though he had the right to go out to get some air at 7.30 in the morning and 5 in the evening, this right was violated for 25 days. During the time when he stayed there, he was taken out for fresh air only for an hour.

"He was consecutively subjected to the verbal harassment and physical torture of wardens on December 20 Monday and December 22 Wednesday. The letters and faxes where he wrote to his family and newspapers about the rights violations and violence inflicted on him were censored.

"Afterwards, on December 31 Friday, he was transferred from Samsun Type T Prison to Bafra Type T Prison. On the first day when he went there, he was subjected to strip search and insults by wardens.

"Despite the ill treatment he was subjected to, he wanted to object to strip search because it was degrading and, as a result of this, he was given a penalty of solitary confinement for four days. And his right to get air is also violated in the prison where he is currently staying.

"Even though he is arrested, the conditions of an aggravated life sentence are imposed on him. His health conditions have deteriorated further after the torture he was subjected to in prison.

"When I met his lawyers, I learned that he was given arbitrary bans on communication. Emir is now banned from receiving visitors for 4 months, having a phone call for a month and he will stay in a solitary confinement cell for 5 days". (AS/SD)