Abdullah Ocalan: detention situation and state of health

Previous history:

On February 15, 1999 Abdullah Ocalan was kidnapped on his way from the Greek embassy in Nairobi (Kenya) to the airport. He was then tied up and brought to Turkey aboard the aircraft of  a Turkish businessman. This was an act of piracy which ended a week-long odyssey between Damascus, Moscow, Amsterdam, Rome and Athens – the criminal last round of  a chapter of  the European culture of law that was hardly convincing.
The abduction was accomplished by teaming up the secret services of Turkey, the US and Israel. That much we know today. No matter if the Kenyan government was informed  about the kidnapping and approved of it tacitly – the penal codes of all countries involved regard this as a deprivation of liberty which is liable to prosecution. Since February 16, 1999 Abdullah Ocalan is kept prisoner on the Turkish prison island of Imrali. His state of health is highly unsound prompting concern for his life. 

Imrali

Imrali is an island in the Sea of Marmara. Its climate is rough, the humidity is high. At the beginning of World War I its population was relocated with a view to military considerations. The prison as we know it today was built on the remains of an old church and went into service in 1935. When Abdullah Ocalan was brought to Imrali all other inmates of this fortress were shifted to other prisons and the entire island was declared a restricted military area. During his five-year-captivity the Turkish government reinforced the prison and made it a super-modern high-security fortress. Today, all of the island is kept completely under camera surveillance. The air-space above the island as well as the surrounding water are controlled rigorously by the military. Whoever wants to pass the check-points or enter the high-security wing for the first time is subjected to an iris-scan and a hand-scan the data of which are then saved.
About a thousand soldiers have been deployed there for the complete surveillance of the restricted area who also serve as guards in the high-security wing.

Detention situation

Abdullah Ocalan has got a solitary cell of 13 square meters which is equipped with a milk-glass window. This window can only be opened a finger’s breadth. An air-condition has to secure the fresh air-supply. The cell is located in a two-storied building with special safeguards. There is a toilet and a washing facility for personal hygiene. The cell is subject to a 24-hour surveillance by camera and peephole. For this task a team of Turkish military officers has been carefully selected. They rotate regularly. The cell is illuminated over 24 hours causing massive sleep disorders. In general, Abdullah Ocalan is permitted to see his lawyers for an hour once a week. Since the beginning of 2002, these visits have been prevented arbitrarily time and again, resulting in complete isolation for weeks. His immediate relatives are permitted to see him once a month for an hour. The room where he sees his lawyers borders to his cell while his relatives may only see him through a partition glass and over a phone. Twice a day Abdullah Ocalan is allowed to leave his cell for a walk in the yard for an hour approximately. The yard is about forty square meters in size, of gravel soil, and surrounded by high walls with barbed wire at the top. The anti-torture-committee of the Council of Europe objected to this and called it insufficient during their visit on March 2, 1999. All stimuli from the outer world are reduced to an absolute minimum. His access to information is also very restricted since the beginning of 2000. He has no TV, and the books and papers supplied by his lawyers often only partly or not at all handed to him. There are no apparent criteria for these decisions. Mail is only handed over after censoring it - if it is handed over at all. Mr. Ocalan may only have three books in his possession at the same time. His only source of actual information is a radio that cannot receive any other but the national channel TRT. He cannot answer any letters since he is denied the right to correspondence.

Nutrition

Abdullah Ocalan is not allowed to enjoy his right to limited purchase of food as it is granted by the general statute of the Turkish penal system. A replenishment of his vitamin-deficient diet is therefore impossible. His lawyers’ efforts to bring an end to this situation have not been successful so far. Apart from this there are no limitations to Mr. Ocalan’s nourishment. His food is prepared in a kitchen specially set up for this purpose. It is quantitatively sufficient according to Abdullah Ocalan.

State of his health

Before he was kidnapped Abdullah Ocalan suffered only from a chronic sinusitis. Otherwise his state of health was stable. However, while his imprisonment continued his health worsened substantially at least in part due to the severe psychic conditions of his solitary confinement on Imrali and, physically, the high air-humidity prevailing in the Sea of Marmara. The anti-torture-committee of the Council of Europe agreed with this after a visit to the island. This is why the committee invited Turkey to improve Mr. Ocalan’s situation noticeably. 
The Turkish authorities, however, have not taken any steps in this direction so far.
He suffers from a permanent under-stimulation of his senses that has already severely affected his senses of smell and taste. His cell has been continuously lighted for nearly five years now already resulting in massive sleep disorders. This can be called torture by all means and purposes. Apart from his chronic sinusitis the first symptoms of asthma start showing. An allergic rhinitis together with chronic angina make it difficult for him to breathe causing choking fits during his sleep from which he does not easily recover. According to private doctors these fits might bring about an apnoea or a cardiac infarction that would put his life at risk.

Hence, Abdullah Ocalan does not enjoy sufficient medical care. Turkeys pleadings before the European Court of Human Rights reveal the fact that hitherto the Kurdish leader has not been examined adequately. Once a week he is examined for about fifteen minutes by a team of three doctors under the control of the Health Department. However, he is not informed about the results  of these examinations nor are his lawyers who would have a right to this according to Turkish law. The medical team consists mainly of general practitioners who do not possess a specific knowledge for this situation. The patient is only examined by appearances, that is he is auscultated with a stethoscope, his blood pressure and pulse are taken, and his respiratory tracts are examined with the naked eye. Until today no x-rays, ECGs or blood samples have been taken because these devices which would be necessary for a thorough medical examination are not available there. Without these and in such a short time in-depth results are impossible.

This is why Abdullah Ocalan demands an independent team of doctors. This team is then supposed to search for the cause of his complaints and assess the real state of his health without pressure of time. The results then shall be made available to the public.

Conclusion

Our knowledge about Mr. Ocalan’s state of health is based on the impression his lawyers have gained from contact with their client or the few documents that were available to them.  Hence, a fair professional assessment is impossible. This makes an independent team of doctors absolutely necessary. It seems clear that five years of isolation have caused massive physical and psychic health problems which is why the anti-torture-committee of the Council of Europe also demands a noticeable improvement of the situation. Numerous papers examining sensory deprivation support this view. We may safely draw the conclusion that Mr. Ocalan’s health is at least seriously at risk. However, the situation on Imrali, the complete isolation of Mr. Ocalan, is utterly inhumane anyway. This situation is in violation of both Turkish and international law which is why this situation ought to be brought to an end immediately 
Imrali remains a special case that cannot be justified by any reason whatsoever.

If Mr. Ocalan’s health should further worsen the political consequences might even become more serious. Even after his illegal abduction a majority of the Kurds sympathises with the Kurdish leader and observes this issue very warily.
Due to his influence the Kurdish side of the conflict today uses strictly political means in their struggle. However, they will not accept, they say, any harm  to Abdullah Ocalan. The increasing number of clashes between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish military make it clear that the present ceasefire remains a very fragile one. International efforts are needed to ease the tensions.

What is needed to achieve some kind of détente:

•	The Council of Europe’s “Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Degrading or Inhumane Treatment (CPT)” must examine Mr. Ocalan’s prison conditions again. Their recommendations to Turkey have to be  monitored with more emphasis.

•	An independent international team of doctors must be sent to Imrali by the CPT. This team must examine Mr. Ocalan thoroughly and make their results public.

•	Mr. Ocalan’s conditions of solitary confinement must be ended immediately.