Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan’s lawyers appealed to Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) against the isolation of their client in Imrali High-Security Prison.

Ocalan is denied any contact with his lawyers for more than six years. Kurdish leader last spoke with his lawyers during a routine visit on  July 27, 2011.

A delegation of politicians and family members are barred from visiting Ocalan since summer of 2015 except Mehmet Ocalan’s, Abdullah Ocalan’s brother, visit to the island in 2016.

Ocalan’s lawyer Cengiz Yurekli appealed against the continuing isolation of their client and said that the practice itself is a crime according to Turkish law.

“The regime in Imrali is based on lawlessness. The situation in Imrali is a continuing crime. The normal rights of prisoners are not recognized. In classical terms, the situation itself exceeds the definition of isolation. Every day, every hour, every second of this system’s practice is a crime” he said.

After the declaration of the state of emergency by the Turkish state, Ocalan’s lawyer can’t even get an official explanation about why the visits are not allowed. Yurekli insists that this practice doesn’t even have a legal basis under the state of emergency laws.

According to the state of emergency laws, the state can deny communication rights of prisoners who are under arrest but it can’t when the prisoner is convicted.

Ocalan was sentenced to life in prison back in June 1999.

Yurekli said basic rights of prisoners can not be denied for longer periods. He said even in extreme circumstances the time frame should be defined when the state suspend some of the basic human rights.

Yurekli called for the abolishment of isolation practices in Imrali Island and said that they will continue to appeal Turkish states’ crimes against political prisoners.