Turkey’s parliament passes a law to release prisoners that excludes opponents of the Erdogan regime

Ankara-,(ST)- Yesterday, the Turkish parliament, dominated by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), passed a law allowing the release of tens of thousands of criminals to relieve overcrowd prisons threatened by the spread of the Corona epidemic “Covid 19”, but that law did not allow for the release of prisoners opposed to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime.

According to Agence France-Presse, the parliament announced on Twitter that “the project has become law after its approval.”

A former Turkish newspaper editor, Cumhuriyet Jan Dundar, confirmed a few days ago that Erdogan is taking advantage of the law to release prisoners following an outbreak of the Coruna virus in the country to achieve his own political goals, stating that “this law will keep in prison many journalists, politicians, activists and ordinary citizens who entered the prison just for criticizing the government Whereas, persons imprisoned for serious crimes will be released. “

International human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have criticized the law for excluding prisoners such  as journalists, political opponents and lawyers who are in pre-trial detention and who have not yet been brought to trial.

Among those imprisoned are businessman and human rights defender Osman Kavala and Salahuddin Demirta, the former head of the opposition People’s Democratic Party.

In turn, Melina Boyum, an Amnesty International activist in Turkey, said in a tweet that “the parliamentary debates over the days preceding the vote rejected any amnesty that includes the opposition.”

During the four years following the coup attempt that took place in the country in mid-July 2016, the Turkish regime authorities imprisoned tens of thousands of people opposed to the Erdogan regime and took decisions to dismiss or suspend work against more than 150,000 workers in the government, the army, the judiciary, education, and other institutions.

Haifaa Mafalani