SIt-in for ill prisoners in Istanbul

Human Rights Association (IHD) Istanbul Branch Prison Commission held its 381st F sit-in in front of the branch building despite the police blockade.

Photographs of ill prisoners were carried by activists and this week, the case of 81-year-old ill prisoner Mehmet Emin Ozkan was highlighted.

IHD Istanbul Branch Prison Commission member, Mehmet Acettin, read the statement, and stated that "ill prisoners are actually punished twice, for being sick and for being prisoners."

Underlining that the impossibility to get treatment means to violate the right to life, Acettin drew attention to the fact that the prisoners, who should be under the supervision of a doctor, can neither take their medication regularly nor be taken to a doctor in time.

Acettin said that all these practices have been done on the initiative of the prison administration and law enforcement agencies and that they have not been subjected to any supervision, are arbitrary. 

Acettin underlined that prisoner Ozkan suffered five heart attacks while in prison and should be taken to hospital at least three times a week.