Prof. Miley: The CPT should take immediate action to provide information about Öcalan

Prof. Jeffrey Miley said that the CPT should take immediate action to provide information about Abdullah Öcalan's health.

LETTER TO THE CPT

Led by the British Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, figures including MPs, trade unionists and academics wrote a letter to the CPT to urgently send a delegation to İmralı Island. One of the signatories of the letter, Prof. Jeffrey Miley called CPT to fulfil its responsibilities.

Jeffrey Miley is a professor at Cambridge University and one of the spokespersons of the Peace in Kurdistan Campaign. Miley spoke to Erem Kansoy from Medya Haber about the letter to the CPT and said: "Abdullah Öcalan is very important, especially for the start and continuation of a possible peace process. As a peace campaign for Kurdistan, we call on the CPT to take action immediately. First of all, they should inform us about Öcalan's health. We want the isolation imposed on Öcalan, which causes criminalization of the Kurdish people and is also inhumane and brutal, to be lifted immediately."

The letter sent to Alan Mitchell, Chairman of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) said: "We would like the CPT to act in accordance with Article 3 of the CoE Statute, which states that: 'Every member of the Council of Europe must accept the principles of the rule of law and the enjoyment by all persons within its jurisdiction of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”' Mr. Öcalan is a citizen of a CoE member state that has been denying him his human rights for two and half decades, and for the last three years, has been depriving him of his basic legal rights to meet with his lawyers and speak with his family."

The letter was signed by Peace in Kurdistan members, as well as known people such as renowned linguist Noam Chomsky, former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn, Simon Dubbins of Unite the Union, the largest trade union organisation in Britain, Prof. Dr. Michael Gunter, Prof. Dr. Bill Bowring, Prof. Dr. Mary Davis, SNP MP, Prof. Dr. Michael Gunter, Prof. Dr. Bill Bowring, Prof. Dr. Mary Davis, Prof. Dr. Michael Gunter, Prof. Dr. Bill Bowring, Prof. Dr. Michael Gunter, Prof. Dr. Michael Gunter, Prof. Dr. Bill Bowring, Prof. Bill Bowring, Prof. Dr. Mary Davis. Dr. Mary Davis, SNP MP Chris Stephens, Siin Fein MP Chris Hazzard, Mickey Brady, Labour MPs Kate Osamar, John McDonnell, and dozens of academics, trade unionists, writers and journalists.