AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

Prominent human rights activist Akin Birdal, 51, was released from prison on Saturday 23 September 2000.

Birdal is the former president of the Turkey's Human Rights Association and vice-president of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues. He was convicted and imprisoned in June 1998 for "inciting people to hatred and enmity on the basis of class, race or regional difference." The charge stemmed from his repeated calls for an end to Turkey's 16-year war against Kurdish rebels and the use of the phrase "the Kurdish people" in speeches he made at public meetings in 1995 and 1996.

Turkish officials have arrested and imprisoned several activists and writers who have written articles or given speeches that the authorities viewed as sympathetic to Kurdish rebels. Turkey does not recognize its 12 million Kurds as a minority and rejected cease-fire announcements by the rebels last year.

Akin Birdal has suffered greatly in the last two years. On 12 May 1998, two armed men attacked him in his offices, shooting him six times in the chest and legs. Despite his serious injuries, Birdal was imprisoned the following month. While in jail, his health continued to deteriorate. He was released from prison for health reasons in September 1998, but he was re-imprisoned in March 2000 despite medical reports that his injuries continued to pose a serious risk to his health.

Local activists arranged a "sea of flowers" near the prison as a gesture in support of Akin Birdal's release and a statement of solidarity with other prisoners of conscience still jailed in Turkey.

(Sources of Information for this case include: Amnesty International, Associated Press)

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