On 15 February 1999, Abdullah Öcalan was captured in Kenya by Turkish special agents acting in connection with the CIA and Mossad, while en route from the Greek embassy to Nairobi airport. The Kurdish leader was then handed over to Turkey where he has been incarcerated in aggravated isolation in the İmralı Island Prison since.

Tens of thousands are demonstrating in Strasbourg, France today in protest at the international conspiracy.

The march from Metz Boulevard to Parc De L'Etoile before the rally to be held in the afternoon has begun.

Activists of the Long March are leading the people marching behind the banner “Freedom for Öcalan, a political solution to the Kurdish question”.

There is also a giant poster of the Kurdish leader in front of the cortège, as well as a banner reading “Our call to Europe: End the 26 years of isolation and torture against Abdullah Öcalan!”