IHD: Attacks on Visitors Continue

Other visitors were also attacked and beaten up.

Kamber Saygili applied to the Human Rights Association (IHD) on Wednesday. He spoke at a press conference on Thursday and showed the bruises on his body.

During the press conference, Umit Efe, head of the IHD Istanbul Prisons Commission, said human rights violations at maximum security F and G-type prisons were continuing.

She added that the Tekirdag F-type prison was always on the media with human rights violations.

Efe said the isolation in prisons was guaranteed by law and added that violence was getting worse with time. He said many visitors including Kamber Saygili were beaten up.

Many could not make it to the press conference because of their injuries, Efe added.

According to Efe, many visitors in the past, were subject to sexual harassment as they were being searched.

Visitors and prisoners beaten up

Kamber Saygili, father of Ali Haydar Saygili, who has been at the Tekirdag F-type prison since 2002, said the following about what happened after his visit:

"They detained my younger son Niyazi Saygili after the visit. But they did not tell us why they had detained him. We later discovered that they had detained him for being a deserter. But because they did not tell us anything, we insisted that they explain why they had detained my son. They took our insistence as an opposition to soldiers and they attacked us with the order of the military captain. We were beaten up with nightsticks. At least 30 people were injured. Two people have doctor's reports from that day. We have not been able to make a complaint yet because we have been busy with our son who was taken to the paramilitary police station and who is being kept there."

Kamber Saygili said he finally had the chance to apply to the IHD Wednesday. He said his son Ali Haydar Saygili at the Tekirdag F-type prison was beaten up and underwent bad treatment last June, together with other prisoners Hasan Ergin and Habip Akkayali.

Saygili said his son had a leg injury resulting from this incident, which could not be treated even through an operation. Saygili believes they were beaten up because they had pursued legal action against the bad treatment at the prison.

Efe said they would pursue legal action against the beating up of visitors at the Tekirdag F-type prison. (YS/BB/EA/YE)