'Prisoner investigated for saying "friends" in Kurdish during phone call'

Photo: HDP

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Gülüstan Kılıç-Koçyiğit has submitted a parliamentary question about rights violations in prisons in the Central Anatolia Region.

The motion includes findings of a report by the Lawyers for Freedom Association.

According to the report, disciplinary action was taken against a prisoner in the Kırıkkale Type-F Prison for saying "hevaller," which means "friends" or "comrades" in Kurdish.

The word was considered as a "word of organizational communication" by the prison administration, says the report.

Based on the ÖHD report, the MP asked several questions to Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül. Some incidents mentioned in the parliamentary question:

• In the Sincan Women's Closed Prison in Ankara, investigations were opened against prisoners for "propagandizing for an illegal organization" while making celebrations.
• Sebahat Tuncel, a former HDP deputy behind bars at the Sincan Type L-3 Closed Prison, stated that she had requested to be transferred to the Sincan Women's Closed Prison but could not get a result.
• The wards in the Tokat Type-T Prison are for 17 people and one prisoner had to sleep on the floor.
• What is the legal basis for limiting the number of books a prisoner can possess to five?
• Prisoner Arif Bayram, who is in Kırıkkale F-Type Prison, had serious health problems, had no teeth left in his mouth, could not chew the food, and had serious stomach and intestinal problems because he could not eat properly. (AS/VK)