ANKARA - Yakup Brukanlı, one of the 40 detainees held in Konya Ereğli High Security Prison, set his body on fire against the heavy isolation.

 

Rights violations against political prisoners continue in Konya Ereğli High Security Prison. 40 prisoners are held in single cells in Konya Ereğli Prison. The prisoners stated that they continued their indefinite rotating hunger strikes they started regarding the violations of their rights. A new group of prisoners take over the hunger strike every 10 days. Yakup Brukanlı, one of the prisoners whose demands were not met, set his body on fire against the heavy isolation.

 

40 PEOPLE ON HUNGER STRIKE

 

Political prisoner İbrahim Sütcü said in a phone call with his family that he was given a one-month ban on contact visits and any form of communication on the grounds that he did not accept strip search. Stating that they have been held in solitary cells since August 23, Sütcü said: "There were 30 people on hunger strike before, now we know that there are 40 people, it can be even more than 40, we can't communicate each other, so we don't know the exact number. We also know that this number will increase. We are held in separate cells. We are taken to the yard for only one hour a day. We can't see each other even in the yard. They do not allow any social activities other than taking us to the yard for an hour. There are serious criminal prisoners next to our cells, they are disturbing us. We are still continuing our 10-day rotating hunger strike. When we demanded to be taken into wards for three, the prison administration imposed the 'repentence law' on us. They want us to betray our own people.”

 

POLITICAL PRISONER SET HIS BODY ON FIRE

 

Stating that Yakup Brukanlı from Rojhilat, who is being held in the same prison, set his body on fire against the severe isolation, Sütcü said, “We know that his condition is serious, but we cannot get any news from him. We will continue our hunger strike and we will continue to resist until our demands are fulfilled.”

 

CALL TO HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS

 

Sütcü stated that their demands were to get information about Yakup Brukanlı's situation, to be taken to the same wards with their friends, an increase of the time they spend in the yard, not to be kept in the same place with ordinary prisoners, and the ill-treatment to end.

Sütcü called for human rights, legal organizations and political parties to visit the prison.