DİYARBAKIR - Visiting DFG Co-chair Serdar Altan, who is among the 16 imprisoned journalists, his wife Gülsün Altan said that they were subjected to a strip search in Diyarbakır No 2. High Security Prison.

 

Gülsün Altan, wife of Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) Co-chair Serdar Altan, who was among the 16 journalists detained on June 8 and arrested on June 16 on charges of "being a member of a terrorist organisation" in the investigation carried out by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office evaluated the arrest her husband who was transferred to Diyarbakır No. 2 High Security Prison.

 

Reminding that there is a confidentiality decision in the file, Altan said: "Neither the journalists nor the attorneys knows what these 16 journalists were accused of, but the accusation, which the addressees of the incident did not know, was served by the pro-government media. We know that the pro-government media reports what they are told to report. For this reason, the pro-government media tried to create a perception, criminalizing journalists, and and labelling their interviews and programs as terrorist propaganda, so what the people would think that the journalistic activities of these journalists had criminal elements."

 

Explaining that her husband and other journalists were transfered to Diyarbakır Type D Prison after they were arrested, she went to visit to her husband, Altan said: “We had a non-contact visit. As soon as you enter the prison, you go through multiple searches. The glass of the place where the non-contact visit was made was so dirty that during a phone call, we could not see each other."

 

'THE JOURNALISTS LEARNED THEY WERE BEIING TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER PRISON 15 MINUTES PRIOR TO THE TRANSFER'

 

Stating that they were not informed during the transfer of her husband to the High Security Prison No. 2, the transfer was made at midnight, and that her husband and other journalists learned about it 15 minutes prior to the transfer, Altan said: "We learned that they were transferred to another prison after some of the other journailst were able to inform their families. They wanted to inform the families about where they were being transfered, but the administration did not allow it, but as a result of persistent efforts, they were able to inform their families.”

 

'THE FAMILIES WERE SUBJECTED TO STRIP SEARCH IN PRISON'

 

Noting that they were able to make a contact visit on Tuesday on the occasion of the Eid-al-Adha, Altan said: “We encountered a completely different practice in the prison. We were being searched by the prison guards. We went through X-RAY device 7 times. Then they took us to the dressing cabin and looked at our underwear. Despite the male guards and soldiers there, they tried to make us go through X-RAY in front of them without our underwear. It was harassment. The other families and I were very uncomfortable. They traumatised our the children. They traumatised us and my husband and other imprisoned journalists understood what happened to us. The policies  in prison are aimed at intimidating the families. They can't prevent us from seeing our husbands and friends.”

 

'WE MUST STEP UP THE STRUGGLE TOGETHER'

 

Emphasizing that the recent unlawful arrests and pressures were mostly target journalists, Altan said: “There was a lot of support and solidarity for the imprisoned journalist both in Turkey and Kurdistan, and abroad. But we need to step up the struggle and increase solidarity. The free press is the voice of the people. Everyone whould be scared that the press is being silenced. They silence the press when there is something they want to hide from the people. We saw this 6 years ago. They closed down the newspapers and agencies of the free press and the violations of right sky rocketed. The people must support journalists. We will stand with them as their families and friend and we will step up the struggle."