Muhammed Cihad Kaya, the son of a pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy who was detained by police at a press meeting in İstanbul, was tortured in custody and handcuffed to a bed in the hospital he was taken to for treatment, his mother has said.
HDP Central Executive Board member Asiye Koçak shared a photo from her Twitter account showing Hüda Kaya visiting her son in the hospital, where he was handcuffed to his bed.
“Muhammed Cihad was tortured in police custody and his rib was fractured as a result. He was taken to the prosecutor’s office in this condition,” she tweeted.
Huda Kaya’s son was detained by police on Sunday while he was attending a press meeting with his mother in İstanbul’s Kadıköy district concerning the recent arrest of HDP deputies and co-chairs.
Turkish courts on Friday ruled for the arrest of nine HDP deputies including its Co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ on charges of links to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Tunca Öğreten, a journalist with Diken.com, said there are fractures on Muhammed Kaya’s skull as well.
A widely circulated video recording from the press meeting on Sunday shows that a police officer can be indistinctly heard shouting “Get your hand off” to Huda Kaya before slapping her hand.
Muhammed Kaya remains handcuffed to a bed in Kadıköy Numune Hospital.
In a 43-page report titled “A Blank Check: Turkey’s Post-Coup Suspension of Safeguards Against Torture” published on Oct. 24, Human Rights Watch documented 13 specific abuse incidents concerning Turkey’s post-coup detainees. The alleged abuse cases ranged from the use of stress positions and sleep deprivation to severe beatings, sexual abuse and the threat of rape. The watchdog said Turkey’s post-coup emergency decrees have facilitated torture as they removed safeguards against ill-treatment.
Amnesty International stated on July 24 that it had collected credible evidence that detainees in Turkey are beaten, tortured and on some occasions raped in official and unofficial detention centers across the country.