ANTALYA - Stating that in prison he saw how real the things he wrote was, journalist Mehmet Aslan said he will continue to expose the violations of rights.
Our reporter Mehmet Aslan who was arrested on January 9 because of his journalistic activities, was released from prison on May 26, at the first hearing of the case against him. Held in Antalya Type L Closed Prison for about 6 months, Aslan spoke about his time in prison.
Noting that he started working at the Mesopotamia Agency after graduating from the Journalism Department of Antalya University, Aslan told that he was arrested for his journalistic activities. Aslan said the court tried to create a crime from his phone calls and notes with the prisoners and their families.
STRIP SEARCH
Underlining that his articles about strip search was in the indictment as evidence of crime, Aslan said: "I saw first hand how true what I wrote then I got arrested. I used to write about the pressure on prisoners and the violence imposed on them. I have witnessed first hand that all the things I wrote speaking to my sources were true. I understood the prisoners I wrote about better. I was strip searched at the enterance of the prison. We were given a glass full of bleach a week. I was held in a cell for 53 days while I was sick."
NO ONE SPOKE KURDISH!
Noting that the letters sent to him were not delivered to him, Aslan said: "A lot of my friends told that they sent me letters once I was released from prison. I did not recieve any of them. The prison administration did not give me the letters for various absurd reasons. Especially those written in Kurdish. They said no one in the prison administration spoke Kurdish, so they could not read and check the letters so they didn't give them to me.
'WE WILL NOT GIVE UP'
Reminding that he was arrested for exposing violations of rights, Aslan said he was subjected to more severe violations of rights than what he wrote about before. Underlining that the government wants to cover up the violations of rights by arresting prisoners, Aslan said: "They confiscate our equipment and arrest us to stop us from exposing these violations. They are trying to frustrate us but we are determined about exposing these violations. They can not stop us. We will never remain silent against any injustice."
MA / Ömer Akın