Prisoner Maruf Deniz tells of violations of rights in jail

Maruf Deniz, who is being held in Mersin Tarsus No. 3 T Type Closed Prison, told Mezopotamya Agency (MA) about the violations of rights he experienced.

Stating that although there is an Audio and Visual Information System (SEGBİS) facility in the prison, political prisoners cannot use it, Deniz said: “Common prisoners have been given the right to video calls for 30 minutes a week. We only had a 20-minute voice call given during the pandemic, which was reduced to 10 under new regulations. We do not accept this unfair practice.”

‘Yeni Yaşam and Evrensel papers not delivered’

Deniz said that their rights to chat and joint activities are also prevented and added that “cells are far from each other and we are isolated among common prisoners. This practice puts us in danger and is imposed on us as a tool of oppression. As for papers, Yeni Yaşam is not given to us for various reasons. Our applications regarding this were unsuccessful. The newspaper Evrensel was also not given due to the temporary advertisement bans it received. Now it has been removed from the list completely.”

Medical checks in handcuffs and letters in Kurdish not sent

Deniz said that they are taken to the infirmary every 2 weeks, and that medical examinations are carried out with the prisoners handcuffed. “Since we do not accept this practice, we have a problem with accessing treatment. Our right to access health is restricted. In addition, most of our items coming by post are not given to us. The letters we write in Kurdish are kept in the institution for a long time under the pretext of being in need of translation. We can only receive a limited number of books.”

Release postponed for arbitrary reasons

Deniz said that the materials sold in the canteen are limited and the ones found are also very expensive, and that the prices change daily and this situation puts prisoners in a very hard economic situation. He said that channels such as Majlis TV, Halk TV, Tele 1 are not available and added that they can only watch channels determined by the administration.

Deniz also underlined that many of his comrades are denied release, despite having completed their sentence, for arbitrary reasons and added that many are deported to other prisoners in an attempt to “break their will and increase the distance and obstacles to seeing our families.”