Arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Ms. Ayşe Dicle, Co-Chair of MEYA-DER

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URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY

TUR 003 / 0417 / OBS 044

Arbitrary detention /

Judicial harassment

Turkey
April 20, 2017

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation AgainstTorture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation inTurkey.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by reliablesources about the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Ms. AyşeDicle, Co-Chair of the MesopotamiaAssociation of Assistance and Solidarity for Families with Lost Relatives(MEYA-DER), which was shut down under the state of emergency regulations[1].

According to theinformation received, on March 9, 2017, as she was visiting one of herrelatives at the maternity hospital in Diyarbakır, Ms. Ayşe Dicle was arrestedby police officers and taken to Diyarbakır Provincial Security DirectorateAnti-Terror Bureau.

She was detained therefor six days before the Criminal Judge of Peace in Diyarbakır ordered herdetention on charges of “being a member of a terrorist organisation” underArticle 314 of the Turkish Penal Code. She is being held at Diyarbakır Prisonsince March 15, 2017, under poor conditions including overcrowded cells andlack of access to sanitary facilities and medical services.

The accusations pending against Ms. Ayşe Dicle are connected to aninvestigation opened in 2014 by the Diyarbakır Prosecutor into the “cityassemblies”[2]which claims that the Kayapınar City Assembly is an assembly of the KurdistanCommunities Union (KCK).

The Observatory strongly condemns the arbitraryarrest of Ms. Ayşe Dicle, whichappears to only aim at sanctioning her peaceful and legitimate human rightsactivities.

Accordingly, the Observatory calls upon the Turkish judicialauthorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ms. Ayşe Dicle, and end all forms ofharassment against her.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities in Turkey,urging them to:

i. Release Ms. Ayşe Dicle immediately and unconditionally, as her detentionis arbitrary since it only aims at sanctioning her legitimate human rightsactivities;

ii. Guarantee Ms. Ayşe Dicle’s right to due process and a fair trial, includingaccess to her lawyer and to information about the judicial procedure againsther;

iii. Guarantee in all circumstances the physicaland psychological integrity of Ms. AyşeDicle as well as of all human rights defenders in Turkey;

iv. Put an end to all forms ofharassment, including at judicial level, against Ms. Ayşe Dicle, as well as all human rights defenders in Turkey;

v. Comply with all the provisions of the UnitedNations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9,1998, in particular its Articles 1, 5 and 12.2;

vi. Ensure in all circumstances respect forhuman rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international humanrights standards and international instruments ratified by Turkey.

Addresses:

· President of Turkey, Mr.Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Fax: (+90 312) 525 58 31, E-mail: contact@tccb.gov.tr

· Prime Minister of Turkey, Mr. BinaliYıldırım; Fax: +90 (312)403 62 82

· Ministerof Justice, Mr. Bekir Bozdağ, Fax: +90 (0312) 419 33 70; E-mail: info@adalet.gov.tr

· Ministerof Interior, Mr. Süleyman Soylu; Fax: +90 (312) 425 61 30; Email: ozelkalem@icisleri.gov.tr

· Ministerof Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Twitteraccount: @MFATurkey

· Ambassador Izzet SelimYenel, Diplomatic Mission of Turkey to the European Union in Brussels, Fax: +32 2 511 04 50, Email: tr-delegation.eu@mfa.gov.tr

· H.E. Ambassador Mr. AliNaci Koru, Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations in Geneva, Fax:+41 22 734 08 59; Email: mission.turkey@ties.itu.int

Please alsowrite to the diplomatic mission or embassy of Turkey in your respectivecountry.

***

Paris-Geneva,April 20, 2017

Kindly inform us of any action undertakenquoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders(the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World OrganisationAgainst Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to intervene toprevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDHand OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights DefendersMechanism implemented by international civil society.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergencyline:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax FIDH + 33(0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

· Tel and fax OMCT + 41(0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

[1] Founded in 2007, MEYA-DER aims to shed light on cases of enforced andinvoluntary disappearances and to give the families of the disappeared thesupport and solidarity necessary for their struggle for truth and justice. On November 11, 2016, the organisation was shutdown and its assets were seized under Executive Decree No. 677. The Ministry ofInternal Affairs shut down 375 organisations, including some human rightsorganisations, under the state of emergency regulations and without anyjudicial review.

[2] Cityassemblies are shadow assemblies in which civil society members and politiciansgather to discuss policies at the local level.