MAZLUMDER, human rights organization and solidarity for oppressed people, called Pakistan to release the whereabouts of at least 45 Turks, allegedly jailed and tortured in prisons. MAZLUMDER Istanbul Branch released the details of a new report on Pakistani jails at a press conference, which says some Turkish citizens have been the recent victims.
The Organization of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People, MAZLUMDER, said that 45 citizens have applied to the organization’s Istanbul Branch since May of 2009 claiming they were held in Pakistan, and some of them have shared their stories with the rights group. A prisoner victim also attended the press conference. Cetin Akdeniz who returned to Turkey after his innocence proved with the help of MAZLUMDER, talked about his suffering of abuse, and physical conditions in the prison.
Akdeniz said there are Turks and prisoners from other countries in Pakistani secret prisons, which even the people of the region did not even know their existence. Akdeniz said the prisoners are “interrogated by the Pakistan Intelligence (ISI), as well as CIA.
In the report, MAZLUMDER accused Pakistani security forces of using systematic torture in prisons against their own citizens and foreign nationals, who are kept illegally without trial. Pakistan Prison Report also states that some of the citizens of Turkey, recently travelled to the region, have been “the victims of these illegal practices. The report also said, Turkish Islamabad Consulate General officials did not pay enough attention to the conditions of these citizens in Pakistani jails. Saying “that with relevant assistance, their detention time would be less”, the report asks why citizens of Turkey suffer this type of treatment while Pakistan-Turkey bilateral relations are in good level.
President of the Istanbul Branch Cihat Gökdemir, also a lawyer, said he became aware of the subject upon application of relatives of people who have been in Pakistani prisons.
The group’s lawyer Umran Sirimsi Candemir said that the basic principles of criminal law violated in Pakistan by refusing right to defense, fair trial, registering applications of the family members of the defendants, who are allegedly tortured.
She called Pakistani authorities to provide information about the fate of other prisoners who are still in jail. She urged the world public to take the responsibility to eliminate this unjust treatment, which thousands of people are affected.
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