The Turkish parliament’s Committee for the Inspection of Human Rights has failed to review the case of Zaim Hişman Ali, a 17-year-old from Syria. He was allegedly tortured in custody and sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. The Yeni Yaşam newspaper reported this on Friday.
According to the report, the committee referred the case to the Subcommittee for the Inspection of the Rights of Convicts and Detainees. However, the committee did not address the allegations of torture in its response.
Ali is originally from Rojava, the de facto autonomous Kurdish administration in north and east Syria. He was handed over to Turkish authorities by Turkey-backed militias in late 2019.
Kamuran Tanhan, a lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), said that based on past experience, they know that the Subcommittee for the Inspection of the Rights of Convicts and Detainees does not consider requests for on-site inspections of allegations of torture. They also said that the committee has ignored requests for an age assessment on Ali. He was tried and convicted as an adult, despite being only 17.
In June 2020, Ali was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment in only one hearing. He was convicted for his involvement with the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a militant Kurdish group that Turkey accuses of being a Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
However, the conviction came despite the fact that the YPG had deployed Ali behind the front lines due to his young age. He was not found guilty of any charges related to actual armed violence.
According to reports, Ali was mistreated upon his transfer to Turkey. He is now being held in a one-person cell at an Antalya prison.
While the PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, Ankara’s views on the YPG are not shared by the international community. Since 2016, Turkey has launched several military offensives to stave off the YPG from border areas.
Turkey’s military and its proxy forces have been repeatedly accused of war crimes, including summary killings, mistreatment, confiscation of assets, damaging critical infrastructure in aerial attacks, and cutting water to civilian residential areas.
Turkey’s counterterrorism laws are often criticized by human rights groups, legal experts, and international organizations for being overly broad and allowing too much room for interpretation. Many say that there is no longer a separation of powers in the country, and that members of the judiciary are under the control of the government and cannot make judgments based on the law.
Turkey was ranked 117th among 142 countries in the Rule of Law Index published by the World Justice Project (WJP) in October, dropping one rank in comparison to the previous year.
Source: SCF
