Solidarity keeps us alive! Campaign for the release of political prisoners

A press conference was organised  by the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) at its headquarters to explain the campaign.

TJA spokeswoman Ayşe Gökkan, HDP Amed Provincial co-chair Hülya Alökmen Uyanık, TJA activist Sümme Gök, MED TUHAD-FED co-chair Elif Haran, MEBYA-DER co-chair Yüksel Almas joined the press conference.

TJA spokeswoman Ayşe Gökkan spoke in Kurdish and said that the coronavirus epidemic is the ” result of the attack on nature and society carried out by the capitalist modernity system which is interested only in getting maximum profits”.

Gökkan added: “Many states see the coronavirus as an opportunity and use it to attack the most vulnerable people in the society, that is, the people that they have ignored so far, especially prisoners and the elderly. In particular, opposition and political prisoners are left to die, excluded as they are by the release laws issued to prevent the spread of the virus in prisons.”

Gökkan continued: “We ‘outside’ should defend our insurgent sisters ‘inside’, together with the opposition, revolutionary and political prisoners in this process, and protect their lives. We call on everyone to join the campaign to release the political prisoners.”

Gökkan said the objectives of the campaign are as follows:

1. Allowing contact between prisoners, especially women, and their relatives and supporters, and making the situation and thoughts of prisoners visible to the public;
2. Supporting prisoners in all countries and initiate petition campaigns against governments’ prison policies.
3. Requesting the United Nations, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and similar organizations that they exert political and diplomatic pressure on these countries, demanding the immediate release of all political prisoners.

The campaign events will be shared on this website: www.solidaritykeepsusalive.wordpress.com

The campaign organisers are:

Free Women’s Movement (TJA)

Kurdish Women’s Movement – Europe (TJK-E)

RONAK

CENÎ – Kurdish Women’s Office for Peace

International Women’s Alliance (IWA)

Women Democratic Front Pakistan (WDF)

Ruba odeh Palestine

Abya Yala Feminists

National Front for Egyptian Women

Moroccan Association for Progressive Women

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan RAWA

Collective of Support for Women Prisoners in Aragon (C.A.M.P.A.)

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