The letter is addressed to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders; the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues.
Aysel Tuğluk is a Kurdish politician and human rights lawyer. She was arrested in December 2016 while serving as the co-chair of HDP, and sentenced to 10 years in prison on terrorism charges on the basis of her activities as a politician, public speeches she delivered and her attendance at funerals of PKK members. This is part of a pattern of judicial harassment of opposition politicians, and particularly HDP members, by Turkish authorities, which are politically motivated and aim to obstruct HDP’s legitimate activities.
Ms. Tuğluk has been diagnosed with dementia, and medical reports have demonstrated that she is not healthy enough to survive under the prison conditions in Kocaeli F-Type Prison. Her imprisonment continues even though her health is further deteriorating rapidly, and she is particularly vulnerable given the Covid-19 pandemic. Providing additional information on systemic issues concerning the treatment of prisoners in Turkey, the letter requests that the Special Procedures urge the Turkish government to immediately release Aysel Tuğluk and all severely ill prisoners in line with both domestic laws and international standards with regard to the treatment of prisoners.