AP. 8 January 2002. Prison Hunger Striker Dies in Turkey.
ISTANBUL ?? A woman who was among dozens of prison inmates staging a hunger strike in Turkey died Tuesday after fasting for more than seven months. Lale Colak, 27, was the 45th person to die in the year long protest over Turkey's new maximum security prison system. About 100 inmates continue to starve themselves to death, taking vitamins and sugared water to prolong their fast. The independent Human Rights Association said she died in a hospital in Istanbul 10 days after she was discharged from prison because her health was failing. Colak had been jailed for being a member of an outlawed leftist group, the Union of Revolutionary Communists of Turkey, or TIKB. Leftist prisoners and their supporters began the fast to protest the government's policy of moving prisoners from large wards housing up to 100 people to one- or three-inmate cells. Prisoners say small cells leave them isolated and vulnerable to abuse by guards. Militant leftist groups leading the strike have claimed responsibility for a number of assassinations and bombings since the 1970s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
