Six months after the government proposed new human-rights safeguards, widespread torture and other abuses continue unabated in Turkey, according to a report released Wednesday by Amnesty International.
"In early 1990, thousands of people remained imprisoned for political reasons, including hundreds of prisoners of conscience convicted for their non-violent political or religious activities," the international human rights organization said."Among them are members of political organizations, trade unions and Kurdish groups as well as journalists and religious activists. The use of torture continues to be widespread and systematic, in some cases resulting in death."
Turkey ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture in 1988, the report said.
In September and November, the government announced proposals governing length of detention, access to lawyers and protection for prisoners of conscience. None of those proposals has been enacted.
Under the government proposal, the maximum detention period under police custody would be reduced from 15 days to 4-to-10 days, though longer detention would be permitted under emergency legislation.
The government also proposed abolishing the death penalty for 13 categories of offenses but not for murder and political offenses that produce the most death sentences, the report said.