From: Press Agency Ozgurluk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 14:15:23 +0200 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Ozgurluk] AFP: Toll in Turkish hunger strike hits 41 Thu Oct 18 14:14:46 CEST 2001 AFP - Toll in Turkish hunger strike hits 41 ISTANBUL A Turkish prisoner on a hunger strike against controversial jail reforms died on Thursday in the northwest city of Izmit, bringing to 41 the death toll in the year-old protest, a human rights group said. Ali Ekber Baris, a 30-year-old father of one, died in a hospital in Izmit, where he had been transferred from jail after his health deteriorated, a spokeswoman for the Human Rights Association (IHD) told AFP. The inmate, jailed for membership in an extreme left underground group, was on the 170th day of his protest fast, she added. The toll in the strike, which began last October against the introduction of new jails with cells for a maximum of three people, involves both inmates and associates fasting in solidarity outside prisons. Another hunger striker died last month in an Istanbul hospital from burns suffered when he set himself ablaze to denounce a police crackdown on a funeral procession for a fellow striker. The protestors say the new prison cells, which replaced large dormitories housing up to 60 people, deepen social alienation and leave prisoners more vulnerable to mistreatment. The government introduced the new jails in December last year in a bid to restore order and security in its troubled and crowded prisons, where riots and hostage-taking incidents had become commonplace. On September 10, a suicide bomber protesting the new jails blew himself up in downtown Istanbul, also killing two policemen and an Australian tourist and injuring about 20 people. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk Uncencored news about the liberation struggle in Turkey http://www.ozgurluk.org
