content tagged with 2009

According to the annual report of the Human Rights Association, 24 people have died in Turkish prisons in the last year. 11 people died of illness, 3 people committed suicide, 4 were killed. The Association received 2,640 applications in 2009, 397 because of torture and mal-treatment.

The Turkish book "Freedom of Thought 2009" was published as part of the Initiative against Crime of Thought. The book includes punishments and trials based on thoughts, banned publications and events and legal regulations for 'crimes of thought'.

According to a report of the İHD Adana, 299 children were detained in 2009 in Adana. The children state that they were beaten by police officers, threatened to "confess", restrained by hand-cuffs and chains and exposed to torture by soldiers in prison.

At least 9 newspapers were banned based on the Anti-Terror Act, 23 people were sentenced to 58 years imprisonment and fines summing up to 9,740 TL; 101 people were convicted of "attacks on personal rights", received prison sentence of 98 years in total and were sued for compensation claims of 1,408,680 TL. Journalist Cihan Hayırsevener was killed due to the state's indifference to violence.

According to the Turkish Confederation of Labour Unions, 2009 was once more characterized by labour rights violations, extortion of rights and police interventions against workers seeking their rights. The confederation announced continuous and extended protest actions for 2010.

According to the quarterly report of the BİA Media Monitoring Desk published for April, May and June 2009, a total of 125 people, 57 of them journalists, were on trial in 80 cases for expressing their opinions during that period.