Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- [Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Red Rebel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Che List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 8:18 PM Subject: [red_activism] Turkey: DHKP-C Death-Faster Dies. DHKP-C Death-Faster Dies ==================== ANKARA, Aug 14 (AFP) - A 10-month hunger strike to protest at jail reforms in Turkey claimed its 31st victim on Tuesday, the dead man's lawyer told AFP. Osman Osmanagaoglu, 44, died in Istanbul on the 299th day of his fast, two months after he was granted a six-month temporary release due to his deteriorating health, lawyer Behic Asci said. Osmanagaoglu, who was sentenced to jail for belonging to the far-left underground People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (DHKP-C), had spent 11 years in jail. He perished in a house in the Kucuk Armutlu district of Istanbul, where he had continued to fast with several other protestors. The hunger strikers are taking sugared water and vitamins to prolong their protest, which began last October against the introduction of new prisons, where cells for a maximum of three people have replaced large dormitories for up to 60 inmates. Prisoners and human rights activists claim that confinement in smaller units will alienate inmates from fellow prisoners and leave them more vulnerable to mistreatment and torture. But the government has categorically refused to return to the dormitory system, arguing that the packed compounds were the main factor behind frequent riots and hostage-taking in its unruly jails. Most of the 31 hunger strikers who have died were prisoners, although several former prisoners and inmates' relatives have also starved themselves to death in solidarity. Despite the mounting death toll and international pressure, the government is refusing to hold talks with strikers to end the protest. Ankara recently adopted a series of laws in a bid to meet prisoner demands. These allow prisoners to use common recreational areas, as well as introducing special judges to deal with prisoner complaints and civic commissions to inspect prison conditions. But the legislation has failed to satisfy the protestors. More than 1,000 prisoners have been transferred to the new jails since last December, when security forces raided 20 prisons across Turkey to break the hunger strike. The four-day crackdown left 30 prisoners and two paramilitary police officers dead but failed to end the strike. Human rights groups say some 200 inmates are still refusing food. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk In Support of the Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey http://www.ozgurluk.org "Without a Peoples Army the people have nothing" Mao ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Peoples_War ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
