Three young people detained in Amed on the grounds that they had been campaigning against drug use and sales are reportedly being held in wards housing prisoners and convicted inmates charged with drug-related offences.
Following a visit to the young people at Diyarbakır Prison, TJA activist Ayla Akat Ata and DEM Party Amed MP Ceylan Akça Cupolo called for their release.
Speaking outside the prison after the visit, Ayla Akat Ata said that drug use had become a serious social problem in Amed and stressed that it was wrong for the young people to be detained for their efforts to combat it. Ayla Akat Ata said every day and every hour the young people spend in prison is significant and that they should be released as soon as possible.
Ayla Akat Ata also drew attention to overcrowding at the prison, sharing information that around 30 people are reportedly being held in wards designed for 16. She said a significant proportion of the prisoners convicted of ordinary offences at the prison were being held for drug use, sales and related crimes, and argued that civil society initiatives fighting against drugs should work together with public institutions.
DEM Party MP Ceylan Akça Cupolo, meanwhile, said that local platforms such as Şiyar Be had emerged because centralised approaches to combating drugs had proved inadequate.
Ceylan Akça Cupolo said: “Our young people are inside, being held in wards with people who were caught with 10 kilos of cannabis in one case and one kilo of cocaine in another. They tell us that they sleep on the floor between the bunk beds, each on a single blanket. In an environment where conditions are so harsh, we want the young people who are standing up against drugs to be released as soon as possible.”
SIX YOUNG PEOPLE HAD BEEN DETAINED
As part of the “Rabin” campaign organised by the Şiyar Be Platform, the young people had set up a tent together with the KuçeAmed supporters’ group in the Selahattin Eyyubi neighbourhood to campaign against the sale and use of drugs.
After drug users and dealers attacked the young people, police intervened. The police subsequently detained six young people during house raids. Three of them were remanded in custody on charges of “resisting the police.”