The administration of infamous Silivri Prison in İstanbul, a facility that holds mainly political prisoners, has set up CCTV cameras in the toilets and bathrooms of the women’s wards, a violation of the female inmates’ right to privacy, TR724 reported on Thursday.
According to the TR724 report, several female inmates complained about the situation in the prison to their families and lawyers during visits.
The women said the CCTV cameras’ visual angle covers the toilets and bathrooms, in the process violating their privacy. Inmates can only use bathrooms and toilets after blocking the angle of the cameras.
The report said female inmates in Silivri Prison are demanding that the public be sensitive to their right to privacy and start a campaign to compel the prison administration to remove the CCTV cameras from the toilets and bathrooms.
More than 17,000 women in Turkey, many with small children, have been jailed in an unprecedented crackdown and subjected to torture and ill-treatment in detention centers and prisons as part of the government’s systematic campaign of intimidation and persecution of critics and opponents, a report titled “Jailing Women In Turkey: Systematic Campaign of Persecution and Fear” released in April by SCF has revealed.
Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15. Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced on July 13 that 50,510 people have been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup. (SCF with turkishminute.com)
