DBP Co-chair Sebahat Tuncel, who has been in prison for 10 months, has announced that she has received an “athletic time ban” for two months for the hunger strike she started in support of Nuriye and Semih. Tuncel said the isolation continues and added: “For those who are asking if this is lawful, the new regime’s laws are already in place. Me receiving two months of an athletic time ban is nothing of course, when compared to people losing their lives.”

Democratic Regions Party (Demokratik Bölgeler Partisi - DBP) Co-chair Sebahat Tuncel was battered and detained in front of the Diyarbakır Courthouse where she was protesting the political coup against the Peoples’ Democratic Party (Halkların Demokratik Partisi - HDP) and to follow the proceedings of Diyarbakır Co-mayors Gültan Kışanak and Fırat Anlı on November 4, 2016. Tuncel was later arrested. Now she has sent a new letter from prison.

DBP Co-chair Sebahat Tuncel has been in prison since November 6, 2016. Tuncel sent a letter from Kandira Type F Prison No.1 for the Eid and stated that the isolation she experiences in the prison continues on.

TWO MONTH BAN FOR HUNGER STRIKE

In her letter, Tuncel stated that she received an “athletic time ban” for two months. She wrote that she was “hoping” to be able to participate in athletic activity and conversations with other arrestee women. She explained: “I say ‘I’m hoping’ because before I was transferred from the Silivri prison, I had received an athletic time ban for two months for going on a hunger strike for Nuriye and Semih.”

“THE NEW REGIME’S LAWS ARE ALREADY IN PLACE”

“Me receiving two months of an athletic time ban is nothing of course, when compared to people losing their lives,” wrote Tuncel and added: “I will appeal this decision. Just so I can see the friends here for a little while, otherwise the outcome is apparent even now. For those who are asking if this is lawful, the new regime’s laws are already in place.”

ARRESTED FOR 10 MONTHS

Tuncel was sent to the Silivri Prison No.9 along with Hakkari MP Nihat Akdoğan after her arrest in Diyarbakır on November 6, 2016. She was transferred to Kandıra Type F Prison No.1 along with Hakkari MP Selma Irmak on July 19 on their own demand.

Tuncel has been under arrest for 10 months. Before she was transferred to Kandıra, she had gone on a 3 day hunger strike to support Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, the academics who were dismissed from their posts with a Statutory Decree and have been on a hunger strike for 182 days demanding their jobs back.