Wardens at İstanbul’s notorious Silivri Prison reportedly forced Oğuz Usluer, a former news coordinator at HaberTürk TV, who has been behind bars since Dec. 28, 2016, to get a haircut against his will, according to Turkey’s main opposition Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP) deputy Barış Yarkadaş.
“According to information we obtained today, HaberTürk editor Oğuz Usluer had his hair forcefully cut in accordance with a circular notice,” Yarkadaş said during a parliamentary meeting, media reported on Thursday.
Earlier, Cihan Acar, a former Bugün daily reporter who spent more than a year behind under arrest was also subject to same unjust treatment in prison.
Usluer is accused of being member to the Gülen movement, which the government blames for the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. The movement strongly denies any involvement.
Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world. The most recent figures documented by the SCF has showed that 256 journalists and media workers are in jails as of November 21, 2017, most in pre-trial detention languishing in notorious Turkish prisons without even a conviction. Of those in Turkish prisons, 230 are arrested pending trial, only 26 journalists remain convicted and serving time in Turkish prisons. An outstanding detention warrants remain for 135 journalists who live in exile or remain at large in Turkey.
Detaining tens of thousands of people over alleged links to the Gülen movement, the government also closed down more than 180 media outlets after the controversial coup attempt.
