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Source: Arabic.Net – Agencies
On Monday night, the Turkish parliament passed a controversial law allowing the release of tens of thousands of prisoners with the aim of alleviating overcrowding in prisons threatened by the Covid-19 epidemic, but denying political prisoners the right to benefit from its effects.
Parliament announced on Twitter that “the bill became law after it was approved,” and NGOs criticized the text, which excludes prisoners accused of “terrorism,” including journalists and political opponents.
“Many of those imprisoned because they exercised their rights, and did not commit any crime, are exempt (from the release procedure) because the government chooses to use very flexible and overly broad and anti-terrorist laws,” Andrew Gardner, an Amnesty official, told AFP International. “
Meanwhile, the Vice President of the Turkish Parliament said that the Justice and Development Party led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party allied with him supported the bill, which was approved by Parliament by a majority of 279 Votes to 51.
Earlier today, Monday, the Turkish Minister of Justice announced the death of three prisoners as a result of infection with the new Corona virus.
Minister Abdul Hamid Gul told reporters in Ankara that 17 convicts in five jails were infected with the virus. “Unfortunately, three of them died while receiving treatment at the hospital.”
This was Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu, who caused a shakeup on the country’s political scene on Sunday after he resigned due to chaos in the country following the sudden announcement of the curfew to limit the spread of the epidemic.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to resign and asked him to continue his work.
While observers considered resignation due to the wing conflict within the ruling party between Soylu and Erdogan’s son-in-law, the Minister of Finance.
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