In the city of Hol (al-Hawl), in the Cizîre Canton in North and East Syria, dozens of women gathered in front of the City Council to demand the physical freedom of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been incarcerated in İmralı Island Prison in Turkey since 1999, when he was arrested in Kenya and handed over to Turkey as a result of an international conspiracy.
During the protest, women displayed posters of the Kurdish leader and chanted slogans for his physical freedom.
The press statement read by Kongra Star member Nûr Xelîl said: “We demand the physical freedom of Leader Abdullah Öcalan. Free thought cannot be imprisoned in any way. The right to hope is a legal and international right that every prisoner should benefit from.”
Nûr Xelîl emphasized that: “Women in North and East Syria see Leader Öcalan’s physical freedom as a humanitarian and political issue. He is a symbol of peace, democracy, and women’s rights in the region. The isolation imposed on the leader is a direct attack on the values of justice and equality for which he has fought.”
The women in the city of Hol called on international human rights organizations and institutions to pressure the Turkish state to fulfill its legal responsibilities and secure the physical freedom of Öcalan.