Osman Baydemir
Leading human rights defender
and
deputy-chairman of
Insan Haklari Dernegi (IHD)
was arrested on 9 August 2001 while he was with a delegation investigating human rights abuses in Southeast Turkey. He was later released.
Earlier this year he received several death threats, including some from plainclothes police officers.
Amnesty International press relase
London, 9 August 2001, : Leading human rights defender Osman Baydemir has been arrested while he was with a delegation investigating human rights abuses in southeast Turkey. His whereabouts are now unknown, and he is at grave risk of torture. Eighteen-year-old Rasim Açar was arrested after he testified to the delegation, and has reportedly been tortured in custody.
Osman Baydemir is vice-president of the Human Rights Association (IHD). He had travelled to Sirnak with a group of 10 people made up of representatives from Turkish human rights organizations including the IHD and the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) as well as trade unionists and journalists to investigate allegations of torture and other human rights violations by the security forces.
On 8 August they had taken testimony from Rasim Açar in Beytü__ebap. He was afraid that speaking to the group would put him in danger, so they were taking him home in their vehicles when they were stopped and searched at a gendarmerie checkpoint.
The gendarmes detained Rasim Açar, but released the others after confiscating their notes and videos, which apparently contain testimony from Rasim Açar and others about human rights violations committed by the security forces.
Three lawyers from the group were able to visit him at the gendarmerie headquarters in Sirnak the following day. They saw that he had had electrodes attached to his testicles and toes, and had been hung up by his arms which had been tied behind his back. He told them that the gendarmes had forced him to sign a confession that the delegation had bribed him to give them false testimony against the security forces.
Osman Baydemir was taken in for questioning by the prosecutor in Sirnak town on 9 August, in connection with these allegations against Rasim Açar and the delegation. He was released but rearrested as he left gendarmerie headquarters, and taken away in a car. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience.
Background Osman Baydemir is the head of the IHD branch in Diyarbakir which operates in the most sensitive region in Turkey, with the largest number of human rights violations. Earlier this year he received several death threats, including some from plainclothes police officers. (See UA 92/01, EUR 44/022/2001, 10 April, and follow-ups)
Since its creation in 1990, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey has been carrying out a Project for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors. The Foundation has five treatment and rehabilitation centres. More than 1000 people applied to the centres in the year 2000.
The Diyarbakir representation was founded in 1998. It plays a crucial role in the treatment and rehabilitation of torture victims in the southeast of Turkey, which is mainly inhabited by Kurds and where torture and ill-treatment is especially widespread.
In 1998 the HRFT was awarded the European Human Rights Prize of the Council of Europe for "outstanding contribution to the protection of human rights in Turkey" and the struggle for the abolition of torture. RECOMMENDED ACTION: :
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, German or your own language: : –
préoccupé par la sécurité d'Osman Baydemir et de Rasim Açar, qui ont été
arrêtés à Sirnak ; –
urging the authorities to ensure that none of the other people who made statements to the delegation are subjected to torture or ill treatment by the security forces ; and to diplomatic representatives of Turkey accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 21 September 2001.
Source : Amnesty International
DOCUMENT PUBLIC UA 203/01 issued August 9, 2001
– asking the authorities to ensure that Osman Baydemir and Rasim Açar are not tortured or ill-treated ;
– reminding the government of its obligations under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is a state party, which states: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"";
– pointing out that Amnesty International believes that Osman Baydemir has been detained solely because of his human rights work and therefore considers him a prisoner of conscience who should be released immediately and unconditionally ;
– asking that human rights defenders are allowed to pursue their lawful role of monitoring and reporting on human rights matters as set out in the UN Human Rights Defenders Resolution.
APPEALS TO :
Minister of the Interior :
Mr Rüstü Kazim Yücelen
Içisleri Bakani
Içisleri Bakanligi
06644 Ankara, Turquie
Télégrams: Interior Minister, Ankara, Turquie
Fax : + 90 312 418 17 95
Salutation : Dear Minister,
Sirnak Gendarmerie Headquarters :
Jandarma Komutani
Sirnak Jandarma Komutanligi
Sirnak, Turkey
Fax : + 90 486 216 6517
Télégrams : Sirnak Jandarma Komutanligi, Sirnak, Turquie
Salutation: Dear Commander
Governor of the Provinces under Emergency Rule:
Mr Gökhan Aydiner
Olaganüstü Hal Valisi
Diyarbakir, Turkey
Télégrammes : Olaganüstü Hal Valisi, Diyarbakir, Turquie
Fax : + 90 412 224 3572
Salutation: Dear Governor
Minister of Justice :
Prof Hikmet Sami Türk
Adalet Bakani
Adalet Bakanligi
06659 Ankara, Turkey
Télégrammes : Justice Minister, Ankara, Turquie
Fax : + 90 312 417 3954 / 418 5667
Salutation : Dear Minister,
COPIES TO: :
State Minister with responsibility for Human Rights :
E. Safter Gaydali
Office of the Prime Minister
Basbakanlik
06573 Ankara, Turkey
Fax : + 90 312 417 04 76
Salutation: Dear Minister,
