Republican News · Thursday 7 February 2002

New law against Death Fasts in Turkey

This week, the Turkish Parliament is to introduce new regulations which will legally oblige prison administrations to stop a death fast. Prison administrations will be obliged "to return them to life", to intervene by force without needing to consider "whether the prisoner is conscious, or whether a doctor gives his consent or approval".

Paragraph 5 of the draft legislation provides for legalising the "beginning of feeding according to a regime worked out by the institution doctor in the event that psycho-social services do not achieve a result".

Furthermore, draconian punishment is laid down for those who have supported the hunger strikers, in the jails, in the death fast houses, in the villages and communities. Those who encourage people to go on death fast will be given four years in jail. If someone dies on the hunger strike, the penalty will rise to 20 years' imprisonment.

There are now 47 people who have died on the death fast which began over a year ago when the Turkish Administration introduced the F-Type isolation cell blocks. Many more prisoners were killed when Turkish military forces attacked the jails on 17 December 2001 in appalling scenes of violence against defenceless unarmed prisoners. Many prisoners were burnt to death.

More recently, the prison administration has released those on the death fast as they are drawing near to death. Continuing their death fast, these people have sought refuge in death houses within their communities, where they have continued their fast until death.

Relatives and supporters in several cases have joined the death fast themselves, and have died.

Meanwhile Turkey, which is a major contributor to the EU Rapid Reaction Force and is the second largest recipient of US military aid after Israel, is now reported to be the most likely candidate to take over from Britain as head of the 'international security force' in Afghanistan.

At present, Turkey has only 'candidature' membership of the EU, pending such time as the EU judges that the respect for human rights in Turkey has improved.

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Where is Faustino?

Police seized Faustino Jiménez Alvarez from his home in Mexico's Guerrero state on 17 June 2001. The authorities have since denied having him in custody, despite repeated requests from his family, and his whereabouts are now unknown. Amnesty International is gravely concerned for his safety.

Faustino Jiménez Alvarez lives in Tierra Colorada, in Juan R. Escudero municipality. According to his family, State Judicial Police (Policía Judicial del Estado) officers came to their home at 4am without a warrant, dragged Faustino Jiménez Alvarez out by the hair and kicked him repeatedly. The police accused him of involvement in the kidnapping of his employer. The police forced him into their vehicle, and when his wife tried to stop them they told her to shut up and go back inside or she would be shot.

The family immediately made enquiries with the State Attorney General's Office (Procuraduria General de Justica de Estado) and the Judicial Police authorities in the region. They denied he was in custody.

Faustino's boss, who is also his first cousin, was rescued by police after four days and his captors arrested. He and they deny Faustino's involvement.

On 2 July Faustino Jiménez Alvarez's family lodged a formal complaint about his "disappearance" with the Attorney General's Office in the state capital, Chilpancingo, and with the State Human Rights Commission (Comission Estatal de Derechos Humanos). On 11 July the "disappearance" was reported to the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights (ICHR) and the United Nations Working Group on "Disappearances".

The number of reported "disappearances" in Mexico has declined steadily over the past four years, although several hundred past "disappearances" have never been satisfactorily resolved.

On 1 December 2000, a new government under President Vicente Fox Quesada took office in Mexico, ousting the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) after more than 70 years in power. In his inaugural speech, President Fox told Congress that: "Mexico will no longer be held up as a bad example in matters of human rights. We will protect human rights as never before, respecting them as never before and seeking a culture that repudiates any violation and punishes the guilty."

Please send appeals demanding that if Faustino is in custody, he should be promptly brought before a judge and charged with a recognisably criminal offence, or else immediately released, to the Mexican embassy, 43 Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4.