Amed – Prisoners in the Diyarbakır No. 1 Closed Prison have reportedly started a three-day hunger strike to protest the increasing rights violations in the prison. The prisoners tell their family members that their wards are constantly raided and they are battered by the wardens every day and asked their relatives to not remain silent against ongoing rights violations and torture in the prison.  “If we don’t make their voices heard, they will be killed in the prison,” Ayşe Akın, one of the relatives of prisoners, said.

Yesterday (April 14), Ayşe Akın received a call from her son Abdulmerik Akın, who has been held in the Diyarbakır No. 1 Closed Prison. Her son told her that the prisoners are systematically subjected to torture in prison. Her son also told her that the wardens raid a ward in the prison every day and batter the prisoners by dragging them to the ground. After being battered, the wardens take the prisoners to the office of the prison manager and they are also battered by the prison manager.

Stating that her son is sick and hasn’t been taken to a hospital because he refuses the strip search, Ayşe Akın said, “Every day, they are attacked and battered. Their clothes are taken off by force and battered. Then, they are taken to a single cell as naked and not allowed to contact other prisoners. My son told me that they do not accept the pressures against them, the wardens take someone from them every day, and that they have started a hunger strike to protest ongoing rights violations in the prison.”

“If we don’t make their voices heard”

Ayşe Akın called on other relatives of prisoners and said, “Other people don’t care about the prisoners. But as their families, their situation tears our hearts out. We should gather in front of the prison to make our children’s voices heard. If we don’t make their voices heard, they will be killed in the prison.”