Thousands of Turkey coup prisoners ‘raped, starved and hogtied’

Many
of the 10,000 detainees are locked up in horses’ stables and sports
halls – some hogtied in horrific stress positions, according to human
rights campaigners.

Amnesty International has called for
immediate access to prisoners after the coup a week ago which sparked a
brutal crackdown and a three-month state of emergency.

More than 200 died in the uprising which aimed to topple dictatorial President Recep Erdogan – and 1,500 were injured.

Amnesty
says it has ‘credible evidence’ Turkish police are holding detainees in
stress positions for up to 48 hours, denying them food, water and
medical treatment and in the worst cases some have been subjected to
severe beatings and torture, including rape.

John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Europe director,
said: “Reports of abuse including beatings and rape in detention are
extremely alarming, especially given the scale of detentions that we
have seen in the past week.

“Despite chilling images and videos of torture that have been
widely broadcast across the country, the government has remained
conspicuously silent on the abuse. “

Amnesty spoke to lawyers,
doctors and a person on duty in a detention facility about the
conditions in which detainees were being held.

They heard
alarming accounts of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees,
particularly at the Ankara Police Headquarters sports hall, Ankara
Başkent sports hall and the riding club stables there.

Two lawyers in Ankara working on behalf of detainees told Amnesty
International that detainees said they witnessed senior military
officers in detention being raped with a truncheon or finger by police
officers.

A person on duty at the Ankara Police Headquarters
sports hall saw a detainee with severe wounds consistent with having
been beaten, including a large swelling on his head.

The detainee could not stand up or focus his eyes and he eventually lost consciousness.

While in some cases detainees were afforded limited medical
assistance, police refused to allow this detainee essential medical
treatment despite his severe injuries.

The interviewee heard one police doctor on duty say: “Let him die. We will say he came to us dead.”

The
same interviewee said 650-800 soldiers were being held in the Ankara
police headquarters sports hall – 300 of them with signs of having been
beaten.

Some detainees had visible bruises, cuts, or broken bones. Around 40 were so badly injured they could not walk.

Two were unable to stand. One woman who was also detained in a separate facility there had bruising on her face and torso.