Human rights defender imprisoned for participating in demonstration

Human rights defender imprisoned for participating in demonstration 

Human rights defenders around the world are united by their commitment
to protecting and upholding the dignity and rights of people. They are
individuals and groups who put pressure on governments to live up to
international human rights obligations.

The Turkish human rights group Mazlum Der ­ whose full name in Turkish
translates as "The Organization for Human Rights and Solidarity with
Oppressed People" ­ was founded on 24 January 1991 in Ankara.
Independent of the state and political parties or groups, it aims to
defend and support human rights for all people both in and outside
Turkey without any discrimination or double standards. Nevertheless,
the organization has found itself targeted for unfounded allegations
of links with armed Islamist groups.

Özkan Hoshanlž is the former chair of the local branch of Mazlum Der
in Malatya, a town in south east Turkey.  On 1 May 2003 a court in
Turkey confirmed that he should be imprisoned for fifteen months for
attempting to participate in demonstrations in April and May 1999
while he was deputy chair of the branch.  On 28 October 2003 Özkan
Hoshanlž entered Yesilyurt prison where he is serving this sentence.

Özkan Hoshanlž had been trying to observe ­ in his role as a human
rights defender - demonstrations in support of female students banned
from attending classes at Inönü University in Malatya because they
chose to wear a headscarf for religious reasons.  The rector of Inönü
University had issued a ban on all students wearing headscarves on 26
April 1999 threatening anyone who violated this ban with suspension
from their studies.  This ban resulted in demonstrations by students
and other members of civil society on 26 and 30 April and 7 May.  The
latter demonstration reportedly ended in violent clashes between the
security forces and protestors with reports of excessive force being
used to disperse the crowd including beatings with truncheons. More
than two hundred individuals were detained during and after this
demonstration ­ including Özkan Hoshanlž.

A trial was opened against 75 of these detainees in 22 June 1999 at
Malatya State Security Court (DGM) in which the prosecutor asked for
the death sentence for 51 of the defendants on charges of "having
tried to create public unrest with the aim of forcibly changing the
constitutional order of Turkey".  Sentences of between 5 and 15 years
were requested for Özkan Hoshanlž and another 24 defendants for
supposedly participating in this unrest.  In the indictment it alleges
that "�Özkan Hoshanlž's point of reference is radical Islam according
to the types of work of the association for which he is deputy head
[Mazlum Der]".

These charges against the protestors were eventually dropped by the
court.  However, Özkan Hoshanlž and 18 other defendants were later
convicted for being in contravention of Law No 2911 on Meetings and
Demonstrations for "participating in an illegal demonstration and not
dispersing after orders and warnings, and having to be dispersed by
government forces with force". On 1 May 2003, the Turkish High Court
of Appeals upheld a sentence against Özkan Hoshanlž of imprisonment
for 15 months in addition to a monetary fine. Amnesty International
considers him a prisoner of conscience imprisoned for his activities
as a human rights defender.

On 28 May 1999 the Mazlum Der branch in Malatya was shut down by a
court order that reported that it was necessary to do so "to prevent
the carrying out of a crime".  It has only recently reopened. The
current chair of the Malatya branch of Mazlum Der, Hüseyin Saržgül,
stated "I want to say once more that we won't give up on the rights
and freedoms of our people and of our fellow human rights defenders�we
won't stop defending human rights in the face of any difficulty or
intimidation." (Amnesty International, December 1, 2003)

http://www.info-turk.be/