Prisoners talk of more violence during deportation from Diyarbakır prison

7 prisoners from Diyarbakır D Type Closed Prison were deported on 20 October to Antalya S Type Closed Prison, Tokat T Type Closed Prison, Konya Seydişehir T Type Closed Prison, Kayseri Bünyan T Type Closed Prison No. 2, Bünyan T Type Closed Prison and Konya Eregli T Type Closed Prison.

In a phone call with his father Eyüp Işıktaş, prisoner Mehmet Işıktaş, who was deported to Konya Ereğli T Type Closed Prison, told him about the rights violations he and the other prisoners experienced during the transfer from Diyarbakır.

Father Işıktaş said that the day his son was deported he was not informed that this transfer would happen until the day of the visit. He learned about the new prison where his son was deported on October 23, when his son called him by phone from the new prison. Işıktaş said: “The day we went to the meeting, we learned that he was going to be sent to another prison. We tried to get information from the authorities about where my son was transferred, but neither us nor the lawyers were informed on the grounds of ‘security’. Three days later, his lawyer and then my son called us. That’s how we found out where it was.”

Işıktaş told his father that he was not allowed to take any of his belongings except the clothes he was wearing when he was deported, and added that they were badly harassed during the transfer.

Eyüp Işıktaş said that his son, who had to stay in an isolation cell for 14 days for quarantine, and added: “My son was given a sponge just to sleep in the cell. He was not even given a blanket to cover himself.”

Hunger strike

Işıktaş that his son would not accept the violence against him and that he would never stay with ordinary prisoners. “If the prison administration does not give up and send my son among his comrades, he said he will go on hunger strike.”

On 9 November, father Işıktaş called the authorities to inform them that his son had been on hunger strike for three days and that he was worried about his condition.

Beaten and strip searched

Şaban Kaygusuz (24) was deported from Diyarbakır D Type Closed Prison to Kayseri Bünyan No 1 T Type Closed Prison on 19 October. He has a disability of 90 percent and has lost a hand and a foot. Kaygusuz said that he was beaten and subjected to a strip search at the entrance of the prison in the weekly phone call he made with his family after being deported. After the application of Kaygusuz’s family regarding what happened, a lawyer’s visit was obtained on 5 November. Following the lawyer’s visit, Mersin branches of the Human Rights Association (İHD), the Lawyers’ Association for Freedom (ÖHD) and Çukurova Association for Solidarity with Prisoners and Convicts (Çukurova TUHAY-DER) prepared a report on Kaygusuz. In the report, it was stated that a standing count was still imposed on Kaygusuz and that he had still not been taken to the infirmary for a report after the beating.