(WiPC/IFEX) – On 1 June 1998, Esber Yagmurdereli, the Turkish playwright who had been in hiding since January 1998, was arrested and sent to prison in Ankara. **Updates IFEX alerts dated 29 January 1998; 17, 14 November and 23 October 1997; 19 December and 26 May 1995** According to international news service reports, Yagmurdereli was […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – On 1 June 1998, Esber Yagmurdereli, the Turkish playwright who
had been in hiding since January 1998, was arrested and sent to prison in
Ankara.
**Updates IFEX alerts dated 29 January 1998; 17, 14 November and 23 October
1997; 19 December and 26 May 1995**
According to international news service reports, Yagmurdereli was returned
to prison after he refused to submit to a medical examination. He had been
freed in November 1997 on health grounds and the conditions of his release
had been hinged upon his
continued poor health. He is said to suffer from bronchial problems.
According to the Reuters news agency of 1 June, Yagmurdereli said that he
had refused the medical examination as he did not want to be made a special
case.
Yagmurdereli, aged 52, was the subject of protests from Britain and Germany
who warned that his imprisonment would threaten Turkey’s application to join
the European Union. In December 1997, Turkey’s poor human rights records was
one of the reasons
for the European Union delaying its decision on Turkey’s admission.
Background Information
Yagmurdereli was imprisoned in October 1997 after the finalisation of a
10-month sentence served for a speech made in 1991 in which he referred to
human rights abuses against the Kurdish community. Yagmurdereli had been
subject to a partial amnesty in early 1991 when he was released from a
prison term which he had been serving since early 1978. The conditions of
his release were that he not “re-offend”. He is thus required to serve the
remaining 16 years of his original sentence as well as the 10-months for the
new conviction (see IFEX alerts).
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
prison term and the remaining 16 years of a previous prison sentence
freedom of expression as guaranteed under Article 10 of the European
Convention on Human Rights and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
Appeals To
His Excellency Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz
Basbakanlik
06573 Ankara
Turkey
Fax: +90 312 417 0476/230 8896Minister of Justice
Oltan Sungurlu
Ministry of Justice
Ankara, Turkey
Fax: +90 312 417 39 54
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
