Turkey: The Coronavirus Meets Authoritarianism in Turkey - by Isaac Chotiner

 In a public address on Monday night, the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, stated, “Turkey is a country where production must continue and the cogs must keep turning under every circumstance and every condition.” Turkey, where more than two hundred people have died from the new coronavirus, has one of the world’s fastest-growing outbreaks, but Erdoğan has resisted urgent action, calling only for a “voluntary quarantine” for most of the country. Opposition politicians have called for harsher measures against the coronavirus, including the types of lockdowns that have gone into effect around the world, but they have been increasingly besieged and marginalized in recent years, as Erdoğan has extended his power and thrown his rivals in prison. Last week, Turkey arrested hundreds of people for “provocative” posts about the outbreak on social media. Medical professionals who have urged harsher measures have issued apologies after being arrested.

I recently spoke by phone with Emrah Altindis, a professor of biology at Boston College who has been studying the epidemic in Turkey, where he is from. He is also one of the editors of the book “Authoritarianism and Resistance in Turkey: Conversations on Democratic and Social Challenges.” During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed how Erdoğan’s privatization of the medical system affected coronavirus preparation, how the Syrian refugee crisis has changed Turkish society, and the dangers of an outbreak in Turkey’s prisons.

Let’s start with the numbers. The first case in Turkey was detected on March 11th. This was later than in most countries. And the first death happened on March 17th. And as of today, March 31st, we have lost two hundred and fourteen people. And the number of cases that are confirmed is 13,531. If you compare these numbers to other countries’ after they had a hundred cases detected, Turkey has the biggest rate of increase in the number of cases in the world right now. So it means that it is really very serious.

We have some hope with the mortality rate. As you know, it is very high in Spain and in Italy. But in Turkey, if these official numbers are true—and they are extremely questionable, because there is no transparency in Turkey—but, if these numbers are true, then the rate is less than in Italy or Spain.

Read more: The Coronavirus Meets Authoritarianism in Turkey | The New Yorker

TURKEY AND THE FREE PRESS ; TURKEY THE LARGESTB PRISON FOR JOURNALISTS IN THE WORLD

Read more at:
https://www.euronews.com/2019/05/06/turkey-the-world-s-largest-prison-for-journalists-view

Freedom of expression: Unprecedented levels of violence against journalists in 2018

Unprecedented levels’ of violence against journalists in 2018, watchdog warns

Read more at: 

https://www.euronews.com/2018/12/18/unprecedented-levels-of-violence-agsint-journalists-in-2018-watchdog-warns

Turkey: Leading Turkish human rights defender sentenced for Twitter post - France 24

A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, one of the country’s leading human rights advocates, to two-and-a-half years in jail for a 2016 Twitter post advocating peace.

A former head of Mazlumdar, a prominent Turkish human rights group, Gergerlioglu was sentenced for “disseminating terrorist propaganda”, a charge he denies.

The 53-year-old human rights activist was sentenced for a message he posted on Twitter on October 9, 2016, when he downloaded a photograph of a World Peace Day demonstration featuring Kurdish mothers protesting behind two symbolic coffins, one draped in the Turkish flag and the other in a Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) flag.

Read more: Leading Turkish human rights defender sentenced for Twitter post - France 24

Armenia: Two Armenian activists released from Turkish jail

Two political activists of Armenian origin were released from a jail in Turkey on Friday, December 8, Akhaltskha.net reports.

Cemil Aksu and his wife, Nurcan Vayiç Aksu, were arrested by Turkish police due to social media posts that were critical of the Turkish government.

An author and environmental activist, Aksu, was arrested on October 25 in the city of Artvin for allegedly “praising crime and criminals” in his social media posts. Aksu is the local co-chair of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), and is one of the editors of the Gor-Hemshin cultural magazine.

His wife, Nurcan, another activist of Armenian origin, was also taken into police custody on October 19 in a house raid due to her social media posts. Vayiç is a rights activist and a member of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP). The couple is from the town of Hopa in Artvin, in what is commonly known as the Hemshin region, around 12 miles of the Georgian border.

As long-time political activists and writers, the Aksus have written and spoken out not only about local history and identity in the Hemshin region, but also on environmental matters, women’s rights, and Turkish politics, among other matters.

As a result of the couple’s arrest, their eight-year-old child, Arev, is now being taken care of by his aunt.

Read more: Two Armenian activists released from Turkish jail - PanARMENIAN.Net

The Netherlands: Security Services Fail: Bosnian Croat leader Slobodan Praljak dies after drinking poison in UN war crimes court in the Hague

Bosnian Croat ex-General Slobodan Praljak died Wednesday evening after drinking poison at a UN court hearing in The Hague.

"One of the six defendants ... passed away today in the HMC hospital in The Hague," said court spokesman Nenad Golcevski.

Earlier, judges part of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)  had rejected the 72-year-old's appeal against his 20-year prison sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

Upon hearing the verdict, Praljak yelled: "Judges, Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal. I reject the verdict with contempt."

He then drank from a small glass bottle and told the courtroom: "What I drank was poison."

The presiding judge called for medical assistance and ordered the session to be closed to the public.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has described the verdict as "unjust" and offered his condolences to Praljak's family.

Note EU-Digest: the death of Slobodan Pralja by his own hand (drinking a potent poison) inside the International Court of Justice during the hearings, puts a major blemish on the Dutch security services, not only for the fact that this poison was smuggled into the prison where Mr. Slobodan Pralja was incarcerated, but also for allowing the defendant to take this poison into the courtroom. 

It was reported the Dutch Ministry of Justice has launched an immediate investigation into this tragic matter.
  
Read more: Bosnian Croat leader Slobodan Praljak dies after drinking poison in UN war crimes court | News | DW | 29.11.2017

Spain: The illegal Catalonia independence: Huge Barcelona Pro-Spain Unity Rally

Some 1 million Pro-Spain Unity demonstrated today in Barcelona

Hundreds of thousands are attending a rally for Spanish unity in Barcelona after Catalonia was stripped of its autonomy for declaring independence.

Many of those protesting in the region's largest city chanted that sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont should be jailed.

Mr Puigdemont was dismissed as Spain's central government took control of Catalan institutions.

On Sunday, a minister in Belgium said he could get political asylum there.

Spain has been gripped by a constitutional crisis since a referendum, organised by Mr Puigdemont's separatist government, was held earlier this month in defiance of a ruling by the Constitutional Court which had declared it illegal.

The Guardia Urbana, a Catalan municipal police force, said at least 300,000 people had turned out in Barcelona. Organisers and the government in Madrid put the turnout a more than a million people.

Veteran Catalan politician Josep Borrell, a former president of the European Parliament, told demonstrators that Catalonia's former separatist leaders had no right to speak on behalf of the entire region.

Among the demonstrators was Marina Fernandez, a 19-year-old student, who said she was unhappy with the actions taken by the Catalan authorities.

"I am enraged about what they are doing to the country that my grandparents built," she told the AFP news agency.

Another protester, Maria Lopez, told Reuters news agency: "What do we want? That they don't break us up. This is a disgrace. We are not going to consent. They are shameless, shameless, and Mr Puigdemont needs to be taken to prison."

Read more: Catalonia independence: Huge Barcelona pro-Spain rally - BBC News

Spain: Rajoy says he will sack Catalan government, call regional elections

Many Polls in Spain show
Carles Puigdemont should be locked up

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday (October 21) said he would curb the powers of Catalonia’s parliament, sack its government and call a regional election within six months in a bid to stop efforts by the autonomous region to break away from Spain.

Rajoy said his government had taken the unprecedented decision to restore the law, make sure regional institutions were neutral, and to guarantee public services and economic activity as well as preserve the civil rights of all citizens.

The measures must now be approved by Spain’s upper house, the Senate, where a vote is scheduled for October 27.

Rajoy’s speech came after Spain’s central government met to discuss establishing control of the wealthy northeastern region following the referendum on secession three weeks ago.

Madrid says suspending some of Catalonia’s autonomy – a move that could be applied under Article 155 of the Spanish constitution – would guarantee “freedom, security and plurality” in the face of “rebellious disobedience.”

Rajoy said the goal of such measures, “is to go back to legality because it cannot be a portion of a country where law is not applied, where law doesn’t exist. And at the same time we need to go back to institutional normality.”

The country’s head of state King Felipe said he supports the central government’s stance, and affirmed the unity of Spain. He says “Catalonia is and will remain an essential part.”

“Spain needs to face up to an unacceptable secession attempt on its national territory, which it will resolve using legitimate democratic institutions, respecting our constitution, adhering to the values and principles of the parliamentary democracy in which we have lived for 39 years,” he added.

Note EU-Digest: The latest Spanish polls show that in the opinion of the majority of the Spanish  population PM Mariano Rajoy is considered being far to lenient to Carles Puigdemont. They find by a large majority that Puigdemont, like the two other party leaders of this illegal rebellious movement against the state of Spain, should also be locked up

Read more: Rajoy says he will sack Catalan government, call regional elections | Euronews

Egyptian court orders Mubarak released from prison - by Abigail Hauslohner

"And the Egyptian Military Saga Continues"

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak could leave prison as early as Wednesday night, government officials and legal experts said, after a Cairo court ordered the release of the deposed autocrat who ruled Egypt for three decades.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi

Mubarak’s release would constitute a dramatic blow to the broad protest movement that forced his removal from office in February 2011. It would also lend credibility to the Islamist opposition’s claims that the old regime is reasserting itself following a July 3 military coup that ousted Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president. Egyptian security services in recent weeks have launched a deadly crackdown against Morsi’s allies.

The Egyptian prosecutor’s office said Mubarak would remain on the country’s no-fly list and that his assets would remain frozen.

Mubarak’s release was ordered by an Egyptian court Wednesday after the 85-year-old former air force commander agreed to return or pay the value of gifts he received from state news organizations while in office, a spokesman for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said.

It was the last of three cases brought against Mubarak since he was ousted from power in the Arab Spring uprising. Judicial authorities accepted Mubarak’s appeals for a retrial on earlier charges of corruption and killing protesters during the uprising. Other charges related to the renovation of the presidential palace were dismissed earlier for lack of evidence.

“According to our penal code, you cannot detain a person for more than two years, without indicting him,” said Badr Abdellaty, a spokesman for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry.

“So he can stay at home,” Abdellaty said, and go from there to court for his retrials

Note EU-Digest: And the Egyptian Military Saga Continues.....

Read more: Egyptian court orders Mubarak released from prison - The Washington Post

Torture: CIA secret prison in Poland: Leaders break their silence

After many revelations and political statements, Polish leaders have come closer than ever to acknowledging that the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ran a secret interrogation facility for terror suspects in 2002 and 2003 in the Eastern European country, according to the Associated Press. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday that his country has become the "political victim" of leaks from US officials that brought to light aspects of the secret CIA prison.

Former chief of Poland's intelligence services (UW) Zbigniew Siemiatkowski confirmed earlier this week that prosecutors told him during a January meeting that they were going to lay charges against him for "unlawful deprivation of liberty" and "corporal punishment" against prisoners-of-war in relation to the secret CIA prison, reported Polish site The News. Two prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah, said they had been held in a prison in Poland and have been given "victim status" by prosecutors in Warsaw.

"This may be painful, but concrete evidence that Poland is no longer a country where politicians can fix something under the table and expect it not to [eventually] come out — even if they do so with the world’s greatest superpower," PM Tusk said when asked for his reaction to the news that a former intelligence services chief will face charges connected to the CIA cover-up, according to The News.

For more: CIA secret prison in Poland: Leaders break their silence

Daily Mail: U.S. is world's biggest jailer as more than one in 100 adults languish behind bars - Russia highest number of inmates Europe

For the complete report from the Daily Mail click on this link

U.S. is world's biggest jailer as more than one in 100 adults languish behind bars-Russia highest number of inmates Europe

More than one in every 100 American adults is in prison, making the United States the world's biggest jailer, according to a Pew report published today.The numbers - based on January statistics released by the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College, London - put U.S. prison numbers far above those of China, which has 1.5 million people behind bars even though its total population is more than four times bigger than the United States'. South Africa has 341 prisoners per 100,000 citizens, Iran has 222 per 100,000, and China 119, according to the King's College centre's World Prison Brief. The 50 U.S. states spent nearly $49 billion (£25 billion) on prisons last year, up from less than US$11 billion 20 years earlier, the report said.Prison spending has risen six times faster than higher education spending, the Pew Centre said, and has actually overtaken it in Vermont, Michigan, Oregon and Connecticut."These sad facts reflect a very distorted set of national priorities," said Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont.

Russia and other former Soviet republics had the highest rates of incarceration in Europe. Russia, with a total of 890,000 people in prison, has 628 inmates per 100,000 people, followed by Belarus with 426 per 100,000, Georgia with 401 per 100,000 and Ukraine with 345 per 100,000.