HUNGER-STRIKING lawyer Aytac Unsal has compared his treatment by the Turkish authorities to that inflicted on Palestinian political prisoners by the Israeli state.
He has been on hunger strike for more than 200 days as has fellow lawyer Ebru Timtik, who is seriously unwell after 230 days without food.
The pair are demanding a fair trial, having been jailed in March following a highly politicised and flawed process which heard testimony from an unreliable police informer and anonymous witnesses.
Mr Unsal and Ms Timtik were found guilty of membership of a terrorist organisation, the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, through their involvement with the Progressive Lawyers Association.
On July 30, an Istanbul Council of Forensic Medicine report found that prison was not an appropriate environment for the hunger strikers.
Yet instead of releasing them, the judge ruled that their continued detention was proportionate — supposedly because they pose a flight risk, even though Ms Timtik has been so weakened by the hunger strike that she can barely walk.
They were instead taken to hospital, where staff and Turkish security services tried to break their resistance.
In an open letter, Mr Unsal explained that they are under constant surveillance, have no ventilation in the rooms and are being taunted by staff eating doner kebabs in front of them.
It said that this reminded him of treatment of Palestinian prisoners during mass hunger strikes in 2017.
“You must all remember that famous picture. A couple of years ago, Palestinian prisoners were on a death fast for their rights in Israel prisons.
“And the Israeli state responded to this resistance in a way that would be expected from it. Barbecues were brought in front of the prison, meat was cooked and the smoke was directed towards the prison cells.
“It is a method of torture. Its aim is to break the will of one’s addressee. The Israeli state approaches problems with such methods because it is an enemy of the Palestinian people.
“Today, we are also isolated in hospital cells with various methods of torture. We are faced with quite similar practices. Because we are ruled by a state which is an enemy of its own people,” he wrote.
Demonstrations are taking place tonight supporting their demand for a fair trial.
Kemalist Republican People’s Party MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu, People’s Democratic Party (HDP) MP Huda Kaya and Workers Party of Turkey chairman and MP Erkan Bas were among those who attended a similar protest on Thursday.
Source: Morning Star Online
