Sunday, June 16, 2013

Turkey: End the incommunicado detention of Istanbul protesters

Amnesty International

Police in Turkey are refusing to acknowledge that they have people in custody following mass detentions carried out during the night in Istanbul.

Police in Turkey are refusing to acknowledge that they have people in custody following mass detentions carried out during the night in Istanbul.

"Police in Turkey are refusing to acknowledge that they have people in custody following mass detentions carried out during the night in Istanbul, Amnesty International said today.  

More than a hundred are believed to have been detained during Saturday night's demonstrations in the areas of Taksim, the main focus of the protests, and the nearby districts of Harbiye and Mecidiyekoy. The actual number is not known but is likely to be significantly higher.

The Istanbul Bar Association told Amnesty International that they knew of around 70 named individuals who were seen being detained by police but whose whereabouts still cannot be verified.

"Following a night of shocking police violence, the authorities are now denying due process to those they have detained. The police must release them immediately or disclose their location and allow access to family members and lawyers," said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International's researcher on Turkey, who is currently in Istanbul.

Amnesty International has received consistent and credible reports of demonstrators being beaten by police during arrest and transfer to custody and being denied access to food, water, and toilet facilities for up to 12 hours during the current protests in Istanbul which have taken place for almost three weeks.

The fact that the location of the protesters is not known heightens concerns that they may have been ill-treated by the police......"

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