Prisoner has release date postponed for singing in Kurdish

New violations against prisoners are denounced every day. Prisoners convey these violations to the public through their families and lawyers, but the authorities remain silent. Prisoners who have fully served their sentences are not released through last minute disciplinary punishments.

Hamza Yıldız was first held in Diyarbakır D Type Closed Prison for 5 years and then transferred to Diyarbakır F Type High Security Closed Prison. He is one of the prisoners who has not been released despite having fully served his sentence. He should have been released on 28 January. His mother, Türkan Yıldız, said that the release order was given for her son Hamza, but he was not released. “When I went to the meeting on Monday, I told the guard standing in front of the door that I wanted to meet with the prosecutor’s office. When I talked to the prosecutor, he told me that Hamza and his friends had been punished because Hamza played the saz and sang in Kurdish in the ward.”

Türkan Yıldız  said that an investigation was launched against Hamza by the prison prosecutor’s office on the grounds of “singing in Kurdish and speaking in Kurdish on the phone”.

Yıldız called for the ill prisoners to be released and added: “There is a heavy isolation imposed against the prisoners. Ill prisoners are kept in prison without treatment. I call out to everyone: We do not want coffins to come out of prisons. Mothers should not cry anymore; no blood should be spilled. Families should unite and fight.”