PUBLIC AI Index: EUR 44/066/2001 17 September 2001 EXTRA 65/01 Fear of torture TURKEY 15 HADEP members in Varto/Mus: Abdulbasit Tas, also member of Human Rights Association (IHD), Mus branch Sirin Tas Kasim Sever Mehdi Yildirim Atila Aslan Özgür Yilmaz Behçet Yilmaz Salih Özen Sirri Taskin Aslan Bulak Çetin Kaya Behçet Özen (district head of HADEP) Mehmet Özçelik Ersin Çiçek Masallah Bingöl More than 20 members of the legal pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP), including the 15 people named above, were arrested by police and gendarmes in Varto, in the southeastern province of Mus, in the early hours of 14 September. They are now held incommunicado at the Anti-Terror branch of Mus Police Headquarters, where it is believed they are being tortured. The charges against them are not known. Two others arrested with them were released the same day. On 15 September at 5 or 6am police brought Sirin Tas with them when they searched his home for a weapon. He was blindfolded and his hands were tightly bound. The police reportedly beat him, his mother, wife and sister during the house search. The family believe that Sirin Tas had been severely tortured. From what they saw they believe that the bones in his hands were broken. Two of the detainees reportedly suffer from health problems: Abdulbasit Tas has a bone disease; and Kasim Sever is diabetic, and does not have the necessary medicine with him. Amnesty International is concerned that prolonged deprivation of his medicine could have grave consequences. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Police in the predominantly Kurdish southeastern region of the country frequently arrest political dissidents on "suspicion" of offences such as membership of illegal armed groups or aiding and abetting such groups as police can hold such people in custody for longer than ordinary detainees. People suspected of such offences, which fall under the jurisdiction of the State Security Courts, can be held in police custody without access to family, friends or legal counsel for up to four days. This may be extended by a further three days on the orders of a prosecutor. After the maximum period detainees must be brought before a prosecutor and a judge, who then decide whether they should be released or remanded to prison to await trial. In Turkish police stations, torture is regularly used to extract confessions, elicit information about illegal organizations, intimidate detainees into becoming police informers or as unofficial punishment for presumed support of illegal organizations. Turkey is a state party to the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 3 of which states that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". Yet over the years, Amnesty International has documented the use of several torture methods in Turkey, including severe beatings, being stripped naked and blindfolded, hosing with pressurized ice-cold water, suspending by the arms or wrists bound behind the victim's back, electric shocks, beating the soles of the feet, death threats and sexual assault. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, German or your own language: - expressing concern that the 16 people named are at risk of torture, and urging that they are not tortured or ill-treated; - reminding the government of its obligations as a state party to the European Convention on Human Rights, which says that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"; - urging the authorities to ensure that the detainees, especially Sirin Tas, Abdulbasit Tas and Kasim Sever, have immediate access to appropriate medical care and the necessary medicine; - urging that the detainees are given immediate access to a lawyer. They should be brought before a judge and charged with a recognizably criminal offence or released immediately. APPEALS TO: Minister of the Interior Mr Rüstü Kazim Yücelen Ministry of Interior Içisleri Bakanligi 06644 Ankara, Turkey Telegrams: Interior Minister, Ankara, Turkey Fax: + 90 312 418 17 95 Salutation: Dear Minister Mus Police Headquarters Mus Emniyet Müdürü Mus Emniyet Müdürlügü Mus, Turkey Telegrams: Emniyet Müdürü, Mus, Turkey Salutation: Dear Chief of Police Governor of Mus Mus Valisi Diyarbakir, Turkey Telegrams: Olaganustu Hal Valisi, Diyarbakir, Turkey Faxes: + 90 436 2120946 Salutation: Dear Governor Chief Prosecutor of Mus Mus Cumhuriyet Bassavcisi Mus Cuhuriyet Savciliigi Mus, Turkey Telegrams: Cumhuriyet Savciligi, Mus, Turkey Faxes: + 90 436 212 5986 Salutation: Dear Chief Prosecutor COPIES TO: State Minister with responsibility for Human Rights Nejat Arseven Office of the Prime Minister, Basbakanlik, 06573 Ankara, Turkey Fax: + 90 312 417 04 76 Salutation: Dear Minister and to diplomatic representatives of Turkey accredited to your country. TURKIETS AMBASSAD BOX 24105 104 51 STOCKHOLM FAX 08- 663 55 14 E-post:turkbe@turkemb.se PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 16 October 2001. Source: Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom

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