The small amounts of money that families deposit to their relatives who are prisoned in prisons for political reasons to meet their needs have become a threat for a while because they are considered within the scope of the "Law on prevention of financing of terrorism".

 

Due to this law, many relatives of prisoners faced investigation, detention and arrest for sending money to prisons. Finally, 75-year-old Hatice Yıldız, living in Esenyurt, Istanbul, was tried on the charge of "financing a terrorist organization" for sending money to her daughter and her daughter's cellmate in prison.

 

Yıldız, whose prison sentence of 4 years and 2 months given by the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court was approved by the Court of Appeal, was recently arrested and put in Bakırköy Women's Closed Prison, despite her advanced age and many health problems such as high blood pressure, eye, lumbar herniation and spinal curvature. .

 

Speaking to MA, Human Rights Association (IHD) Co-Chair Eren Keskin said that "enemy law" is applied to 75-year-old Yıldız, who was arrested for sending money to her daughter.

 

Stating that the "Law on prevention of financing of terrorism" has been signed by many states and one of these states is Turkey, Keskin said that when they look at the example of Hatice Yıldız, the law is used completely outside its intended purpose. Keskin stated that, as a lawyer, she found the situation "tragicomical and irrational".

 

'THERE IS NO ILLEGAL ACTION'

 

Keskin emphasized that the sending of money by relatives of prisoners to any prisoner in prisons has nothing to do with the law in question and said: “In order to finance terrorism, an illegal action must occur. Here, when relatives of prisoners send money, they do so with the ID card given to them by the state and it is deposited in the administration of the prisons. In other words, when we look at the Hatice Yıldız incident, that is not illegal is punished illegally. That's why this is so irrational. This situation actually shows how deplorable the situation the judiciary is in."

 

'REFLECTED AS IF IT IS A HIDDEN ACTIVITY'

 

Reminding that prisoners in prisons have to buy all their needs from the canteen, Keskin said: “From their most basic needs to hygiene and white goods, they buy them from the canteens and therefore they buy them from the prison administration. That's why people in prisons need money. They need to meet these needs. Naturally, these people's acquaintances and relatives deposit money. It is irrational to portray this as if it were a secret activity. That's why Hatice Yıldız is in prison.”

 

Keskin shared that Yıldız, a patient with hypertension and dementia whom she visited in prison, was not in good health and she often fainted.

 

Keskin said that the prison administration did not even give her the medicines that the doctors gave her for her forgetfulness and said: “She is very sad because she has an 85-year-old paralyzed husband at home. Her thoughts are constantly on her paralyzed husband and her daughter who is imprisoned in prison. This situation applied to her can only be defined by enemy law."

 

'THE PURPOSE IS TO ISOLATE PRISONS'

 

Stating that the application of the law in this way causes oppression, Keskin continued her words as follows: “There was no such practice in the past, they introduced it recently. While the state says to the outside, ‘Look, I am implementing this law’ on the other hand, it wants to implement a new policy of fear and intimidation. So everything we do is seen as a crime. Our thoughts, speech and writing are considered crimes. If you are an oppositionist, especially if you do not have the basic lines of the official ideology on the Kurdish issue, you are under judicial control outside, even if you are not in prison. Currently, everyone in the country is living as hostage. Every step we take is controlled. Therefore, one of the reasons why they implemented that law in this way is to increase these policies of fear and isolate prisons.”

 

Keskin said: “People are really lonely in prison. Many political prisoners are transferred to prisons far away from where their families are located. You cannot reach the guardian of many of them, some do not even know that they have a guardian. We know mostly what is happening in nearby prisons. IHD is trying to reach all prisons, but not everyone's family knows how to reach institutions like IHD. The state wants to accuse them of being 'terrorist' by considering any statement or action made about the prisoners as a 'terrorist' activity. There is nothing that can be explained legally about this. There is no such thing in any article of the Constitution.”

 

ISOLATION WITHIN ISOLATION

 

Keskin also conveyed the rights violations suffered by DEM Party Esenyurt District Co-chair Bahar Karataş, whom she visited in Bakırköy Women's Closed Prison. Keskin said: "Karataş's wards were frequently searched and these searches had now reached the level of harassment. Soldiers and man guards entered the wards and together with the woman guards, searched the wards and distributed all the belongings. We receive similar news from many prisons. When I went to prison yesterday, an incident happened right before my eyes. During the meeting, the guards asked Bahar Karataş to take off her shoes. When she did not take off her shoes, the guard tried to forcefully remove the shoes from the prisoner's feet with her own feet. This is a violation of the rights of both prisoners and lawyers. Because this approach is the product of an understanding that also sees the defense as guilty. Here, the lawyer is also accused along with the prisoner. I think this is an isolation within an isolation, but political prisoners are resisting it."

 

MA / Esra Solin Dal