Amnesty calls for Theresa May to demand urgent action in her visit to Turkey

Responding to Prime Minister Theresa May's visit to Turkey, Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:

“This visit is a vital opportunity for Theresa May to ask some probing questions over Turkey’s human rights crackdown following last year’s bloody coup attempt.

“Human rights abuses during the attempted coup absolutely must be investigated and their perpetrators brought to justice, but this can’t be done at the expense of fundamental rights.

“We’ve gathered disturbing evidence of widespread torture in the immediate aftermath of the would-be coup, and the rights of detainees have also been severely curtailed in a series of executive decrees.

“More than 40,000 people have been remanded in pre-trial detention since the coup attempt, and more than 90,000 civil servants have been summarily suspended or dismissed from their jobs.

“More than 100 journalists and media workers have been imprisoned - some for months - in punitive lengthy pre-trial detention, and hundreds of media outlets have been shut down as part of a massive crackdown on freedom of expression.

“Mrs May should call for journalists held in pre-trial detention in Turkey to be released, for an end to torture in detention and for due process and the rule of law in Turkey to prevail.”