Inmates in one of Turkey’s prisons have denounced a bill proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) last week.
The 70-article draft law would temporarily release roughly 45,000 prisoners in response to the risk that the coronavirus could spread in jails and seeks to change 11 different laws in the Turkish Penal Code.
It would exclude those convicted of terror or drug-related crimes, offenses of a sexual nature, and murder and violence against women.
That would mean that dozens of politicians, opposition figures, journalists and human rights defenders, judges and soldiers would be excluded because many of them have been imprisoned on terror-related charges.
According to human rights organizations and advocates, political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in the Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Batman staged a riot that led to an outbreak of fire.
The independent “Bold Media” Turkish news website said prisoners were expressing their rejection of the bill, which excludes them.
The website quoted reliable sources as affirming that the prisoners chanted slogans slamming President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government and set fire in their cells, forcing the prison’s manager to call the fire brigade and ambulance teams.
Special forces of the Batman Security Directorate and a large number of armored vehicles formed a security cordon encircling the prison, and the Batman Governor inspected the situation there.
Families of prisoners and detainees posted videos on social media in which prisoners were chanting slogans and flames were rising from the cells’ windows.
Lawyers said they were not allowed to check on their clients’ health conditions, and the Turkish Human Rights Organization in Batman called on authorities to inform the public immediately about the situation.
The Public Prosecution in the city issued a statement confirming the fire, but it denied any rebellion inside the prison.
There are about 300,000 prisoners in Turkey’s crowded jails. The government has been working on reforms to ease pressure on the system, while human rights groups have said infections could easily grow there.
