HUMAN RIGHTS

Latest News

• Torture increases in jails in Kurdistan 

  According to a report prepared by human rights organizations, torture has increased in prisons established in Kurdistan, while the release of ill prisoners is prevented.
• DEM Party: It is urgent to meet with Abdullah Öcalan 

  The DEM Party Law and Human Rights Commission published the rights violations report. The commission underlined the need for urgent meetings with Abdullah Öcalan.
• Teachers’ union activists in Kurdistan sentenced to dismissal, exile 

  Four members of the Kurdistan Teachers’ Trade Association were sentenced to permanent dismissal, expulsion and exile.
• HRW: The situation in Northeast Syria is exacerbating an acute and longstanding crisis 

  Parties to the conflict should urgently remove any impediment to aid delivery to areas not under their control in northeast Syria, and international donors should increase their funding, HRW said.
• 162 civilians killed in North and East Syria in 2024 

  The Syrian Organisation for Human Rights announced the crimes committed against civilians in northern and eastern Syria in 2024.
• Turkish police torture 4 young people in Hakkari 

  The Turkish police detained 4 young people on the pretext that they did not give way to them, and then tortured them in a warehouse. The young people, who received a report of assault, were taken into custody again.
• Syrian Organisation for Human Rights: Turkish state should face war crimes charges 

  Evin Cuma, one of the executives of the Syrian Organisation for Human Rights, described the attacks of the Turkish state as ‘war crimes’ and called on the UN International Independent Commission of Inquiry to take action.
• ISIG: at least 164 workers lost their lives in work-related accidents in November  

  According to ISIG, at least 164 workers lost their lives in work-related accidents in November and 1,708 in the first 10 months of the year.
• Prisoner released after 32 years in prison 

  Mehmet Turgay was released after 32 years in prison. He was welcomed by people in Adana.
• Özaras: Isolation and the ‘right to hope’ cannot be turned into a political bargaining issue 

  Van Bar Association President Sinan Özaras emphasised that the right to hope and the lifting of isolation can never be turned into a political bargaining issue and that the state must fulfil its legal obligations.
• Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi released from prison 

  Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, who was imprisoned for participating in the 2022 protest movement in Iran, has been released after serving his sentence, the country’s judiciary announced.
• Rights groups call for annulment of death sentences for Pakshan Azizi and Warisha Moradi 

  The Kurdistan Human Rights Network, together with 17 Iranian and international human rights organizations, called for the immediate abolition of the death penalty for political prisoners.
• Prisoners Rabbani and Goonei on hunger strike in Evin jail 

  Political prisoner Vida Rabbani announced that she has been on a hunger strike since 18 November in Evin prison, together with Motahare Goonei, protesting the lack of access to medical care for Narges Mohammadi and Warisha Moradi
• Group from Aarau takes over freedom for Öcalan Vigil in its 649th week 

  The Freedom for Öcalan Vigil in Strasbourg has been taken over by a group from Aarau. The activists said: "We will continue our resistance everywhere until our leader is free."
• Kurdish activist detained in Turkey with his family face deportation to Iran 

  If deported, Hosseini faces a high risk of arrest and trial due to his continued political and cultural activism.
• The odyssey of the Karak family 

  Müslüm Karak spends much of his time on the roads between different prisons in Turkey to visit his brother, nephew, son and son-in-law. His brother Durak has been in prison for 29 years.
• Temelli applies to Human Rights Investigation Commission about prisoner on hunger strike for 55 days 

  Sezai Temelli has applied to the Human Rights Investigation Commission asking for clarification about the case of prisoner Servet Özgün, who has been on a hunger strike for 55 days, requesting to be transferred closer to his family.
• Kurdish kolbar seriously injured in mine explosion in Rojhilat 

  A Kurdish kolbar was seriously injured in a mine explosion near Ciwanro. The kolbar lost a leg.
• Abdullah Öcalan given new 6-month ban on lawyers’ visits 

  Abdullah Öcalan has been given a new 6-month ban on lawyers’ visits. Asrın Law Office will appeal to the Constitutional Court against the decision.
• Lawyer Taşkın: Rights violations in prisons have reached the level of torture 

  Lawyer Fırat Taşkın, a representative of MED TUHAD-FED, said that the rights violations in prisons have reached the level of torture, emphasizing that prisoners' rights to life and health are being violated.
• Report on children’s rights in Kurdistan: Death, detention, arrest, torture... 

  According to the one-year report on violations of children's rights announced by IHD Amed Branch, 36 children's right to life was violated.
• Body of HPG guerrilla Brûsk Reşit delivered to his family 4 years after his death 

  The body of HPG guerrilla Brûsk Reşit (Seyithan Acay), who fell as a martyr on Gabar Mountain, was delivered to his family 4 years after his death.
• Prisoner with 90% disability transferred to solitary cell 

  Kurdish prisoner Şaban Kaygusuz has been moved to a solitary cell in the Turkish Kayseri-Bünyan prison. The former HPG fighter lost a leg and a hand in the war.
• Trial of women's rights defender Sharifah Mohammadi postponed 

  The Defense Group for Sharifah Mohammadi announced that the hearing of the trial was postponed.
• Kurdish civilian sentenced to death in Iran for alleged ‘espionage for Israel’ 

  Five prisoners in Orumiyeh Central Prison now face execution on charges of “espionage for Israel”, and their cases have been referred to Iran’s Supreme Court.