(WiPC/IFEX) – According to Amnesty International, journalist Bayram Namaz has been threatened and harassed by police since 9 March 1999, when he stated at a press conference that his fellow detainee Suleyman Yeter had died in custody as a result of torture. **For background on Namaz’s previous detention see IFEX alert of 11 October 1995** […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – According to Amnesty International, journalist Bayram
Namaz
has been threatened and harassed by police since 9 March 1999, when he
stated at a press conference that his fellow detainee Suleyman Yeter had
died in custody as a result of torture.
**For background on Namaz’s previous detention see IFEX alert of 11
October
1995**
On 5 March, Namaz, Yeter and three others were taken from the offices of
the
newspaper they worked for – “Dayanisma” – and placed in neighbouring
cells
at the Anti-Terror Branch of Istanbul Police Station. The next day,
Yeter
relayed from his cell to Namaz that he had been stripped and beaten,
sprayed
with cold water and forced to lie on ice. That night, Namaz and the
other
detainees heard the cries of someone under torture; on the following
morning
the Fatih State Prosecutor reported that Yeter had died in custody.
Lawyers
were allowed to inspect his body on 8 March and saw marks on his body
which
they believed had been caused by torture.
Namaz was released on 9 March. He reported what he had been told by
Yeter
himself and what he had heard on the night of 6 to 7 March to Turkey’s
Human
Rights Association. He also made an official statement to the Office of
the
Prosecutor in Fatih. He claims that in the last twelve days he has been
repeatedly followed by police in marked cars and is now fearing for his
own
safety.
Namaz and Yeter were among fifteen detainees whose claim that they had
been
tortured in detention on a previous occasion – in early 1997 – was being
officially investigated, after a State Security Court Forensic Institute
issued a report confirming their story. Yeter had faced several
detentions
and threats as a result of this investigation. On 24 March, the Istanbul
Bar
Association expressed concern that Yeter’s death was in direct
retaliation
for his attempt to bring to justice those who had tortured him in 1997.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
the
safety of Namaz and any other colleagues of his who attempt to give
evidence
on the occurrences of 5, 6 and 7 March
bring
his jailers to justice, if it emerges that his death was as a result of
injuries inflicted on him by them
Appeals To
His Excellency President Suleyman Demirel
Office of the President
Cumhurbaskanligi
06100 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: + 90 312 468 5026Please also send appeals to the Turkish diplomatic representatives in
your
country. In Canada contact:His Excellency Ambassador Omer Ersun
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
197 Wurtemburg Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 8L9
Fax: +613 789 3442
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
