The ruling coalition parties of AKP and the MHP don’t want every prisoner to be released. The release act will be voted to include only those imprisoned from crimes like child rape, murder, theft, assault, smuggling, selling drugs, or extortion. The very serious criminals like journalists, writers or others who had opposed the current government will not be set free into the population if the government prevails,
Turkey is one of the top countries that imprison journalists for their political or oppositional articles. There are around 150 journalists in jails in Turkey for writing or publishing what they believe in.
Turkish government was too late in understanding the destruction coronavirus could bring. Due to religious beliefs and political reasons Turkish government did not act to contain the spread of the virus as infected pilgrims arriving from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, kept pouring in after their religious vacation. Most of these thousands of infected pilgrims did not spend any time in quarantine and simply went back to their homes. It is no surprise that the Turkey is now where the virus spreads most rapidly in the world, with death tolls expected to reach and surpass that of Italy.
Due to helplessness in fighting this virus, a bill was introduced to the National Assembly that would allow prisoners to be set free because the state was no longer able to protect their lives during their imprisonment.
However, the ruling coalition parties of AKP and the MHP don’t want every prisoner to be released. The release act will be voted to include only those imprisoned from crimes like child rape, murder, theft, assault, smuggling, selling drugs, or extortion. The very serious criminals like journalists, writers or others who had opposed the current government will not be set free into the population if the government prevails,
The new bill would allow the release of even the murderers or street thugs both the AKP and the MHP have used to attack their opponents. The release would also cover the child rapists who the government thinks should not be in prison because there is no law under Islam that protects children from sexual predators.
However, the bill keeps the journalists that number around 150 to stay in prison which will expose them to the disease while under incarceration.
Gathering digitally on the internet, the journalists belonging to the “Have you heard?” coalition demanded that the journalists too should be set free from prisons.
A tweet by the group said, “Entire Turkey is in a house arrest. The large cities are under quarantine. Many journalists are on the streets and are at news centers. More than a hundred of them are behind bars, waiting to find out if they will be released before the virus gets them.”
Sendika.org News (M.B.)
