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Unlike U.S., Many Governments Releasing Large Numbers of Prisoners to Reduce Threat of COVID-19

Article • July 1, 2020 • from PLN July, 2020

Filed under: COVID-19, Compassionate Release

Unlike U.S., Many Governments Releasing Large Numbers of Prisoners to Reduce Threat of COVID-19 by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke Around the globe, governments are releasing prisoners in an attempt to mitigate the threat of COVID-19-related mass deaths in their jails and prisons. However, Third World countries are far ahead …

13 Prisoners Die in Turkish Prison Fire

Article • October 3, 2014

Filed under: Fire Hazards, Prisoners-International, Political Prisoners (International)

13 Prisoners Die in Turkish Prison Fire by 13 Prisoners Die in Turkish Prison Fire   Thirteen prisoners died, five were injured seriously enough to require hospitalization and three guards suffered burns during a prison fire at the Suliufa prison near in southeast Turkey in June 2012. The prison is …

Death Toll Hits 87 as Turkish Prison Protest Strike Continues

Article • April 15, 2002 • from PLN April, 2002

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Prison Rebellion, Hunger Strikes, Crime/Demographics, Prison/Jail Murders, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Prisoners-International

Death Toll Hits 87 as Turkish Prison Protest Strike Continues by Julia Lutsky On November 4, 2001, Turkish police used armored vehicles to batter down the barricades protesters had erected in Kucakarmutlu, an outlying district on the European side of Istanbul. The semi-official news agency Anatolia reported four protesters had …

Turkish Prisoners Struggle Against Transfers

Article • August 15, 2001 • from PLN August, 2001

Filed under: Prison Rebellion, Hunger Strikes, Prisoners-International, Political Prisoners (International), Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement

Turkish Prisoners Struggle Against Transfers by Julia Lutsky When the Turkish army stormed 20 prisons in December, 2000, a four-day pitched battle ensued during which thirty-two died _ 30 political prisoners and two soldiers. The army claimed that many prisoners set themselves afire rather than surrender; prisoners who survived allege …

Turkish Political Prisoners Massacred

Article • April 15, 2000 • from PLN April, 2000

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Prison Rebellion, Excessive Force, Shootings, Prisoners-International

Turkish Political Prisoners Massacred by On September 26, 1999, eleven political prisoners in a Turkish prison were massacred by police. The victims were imprisoned members of the People's Revolutionary Liberation Front Party (DHKP-C) and the Communist Party of Turkey-Marxist-Leninist (TKP-ML). Both organizations are currently waging people's wars to overthrow the …

Twelve Political Prisoners Gave their Lives in a Death Fast in Turkey

Article • December 15, 1996 • from PLN December, 1996

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Organizing, Prison Rebellion, Hunger Strikes, Prisoners-International

Twelve Political Prisoners Gave their Lives in a Death Fast in Turkey by When Aygun Ugur, an imprisoned militant from the outlawed Turkish Communist Party/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML), died on the 63rd day of a hungerstrike, Turkey was shocked. In a nation which is continually rocked by political crises and rebellion, this …

10,000 Kurdish POWs on Hungerstrike

Article • October 15, 1995 • from PLN October, 1995

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Organizing, Prison Rebellion, Hunger Strikes, Prisoners-International

10,000 Kurdish POWs on Hungerstrike by Since 1984 the Kurdish people in Turkey led by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) have been engaged in a war for an independent socialist homeland. The Turkish government has responded with a brutal military and political campaign of terror and genocide, similar to that …

Death Penalty Sought for Kurdish Legislators

Article • April 15, 1995 • from PLN April, 1995

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Prisoners-International, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Death Penalty Sought for Kurdish Legislators by On August 3, 1994, the trial of eight Turkish Members of Parliament (MP) began in a special state security court in Ankara. Seven of the legislators are members of the now banned Democratic Party, one is an independent. They are charged with capital …

Ex-Prison Boss Assassinated in Turkey

Article • December 15, 1994 • from PLN December, 1994

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Prison/Jail Murders, Prisoners-International

Ex-Prison Boss Assassinated in Turkey by Mehmet Topac was a former minister of justice from 1988-89 in Turkey as a member of the right wing Motherland Party. While he held that position, which controls the Turkish prison system, he instituted rules requiring leftist political prisoners to wear uniforms and limiting …

Kurdish Prisoners Resist

Article • December 15, 1994 • from PLN December, 1994

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Prison Rebellion, International, Prisoners-International

Kurdish Prisoners Resist by Kurdish political prisoners at the Diyarbakir maximum security prison in Turkey battled soldiers on October 4, 1994, in an attempt to block the torture and interrogation of another prisoner. Turkish soldiers fired shots into the air and tear gassed the prisoners, who responded by throwing broken …