Article of imprisonment People’s Lawyer Seda Şaraldı to Bianet
Being murdered in Palestine or arrested in Israel
In addition to their resistance against the occupation, there is another personal issue that makes me think about the Palestinian people: The similarity of our detention to the Israeli practice of administrative detention.
For me, February 6 started as an ordinary working day, but it didn’t continue in the same way. In the afternoon, I was detained. I was arrested on the night of February 9th. I met in Silivri prison on the morning of February 10 and in Sincan Women’s Prison on the evening of February 21. Although Silivri is the place that is called scary with its cold, Xinjiang is colder than there. I’m not writing this to make that bad joke “Xinjiang is cold”. There is a remedy for everything. For example, I warmed up with thermal underwear. Israeli soldiers know as well as I do that thermal underwear made in Turkey warms well. The ships, which continued their voyages without interruption, carried barbed wire, gunpowder and jet fuel, including internal goods, to Israel. Although it is said that restrictions have been imposed, the shipment of basic foodstuffs and many products continues. Each of these inhumane attacks violates international law. We filed a criminal complaint for them while we were outside. An application to the International Court of Justice to prosecute Israel…
What brings us closer to the Palestinian people is their resistance against the occupation of their land and the unremitting persecution they suffer. There is another personal issue that makes me think more often about the Palestinian people. Our detention is similar to Israel’s practice of administrative detention. On the basis of confidential documents submitted to the Commander of the Army or the Minister of Defense in Israel, a person is confronted with information that he does not know the content of his detention and therefore cannot refute. In this respect, the process is similar to the “secret investigation” procedure applied in our country. The similarity can be multiplied in terms of restrictions on lawyer views and continuous extension of the detention period.
The content of the political investigations carried out in Turkey is similar to the investigations directed against the Palestinian people. Any demonstration against Israeli abuses, children throwing stones, and Palestinians, including those who stood there but were not relevant, the families of the protesters, or those known to speak out against the occupation , were subjected to mass arrests. Once imprisoned, there is little hope for a fair trial. Palestinians are not charged with any charges, and when they are, it is generic terms such as “undermining peace” and the punishments are often vague. From 1967 to 2000, 1 in 5 Palestinians were imprisoned in this way. It is not difficult to guess that this data has changed against the Palestinians. Between 2000 and 2007, 18,000 Palestinians were ordered for administrative detention.
“Violating the Constitution“
We were confronted with a vague accusation of acting on behalf of the organization in the police department, and the prosecutor’s office did not explain what we were accused of. Then a long wait and the accusation of Violating the Constitutional Order… Formerly known as tagyir, amended and repealed the Constitution or “To renounce the Constitution.”So, how did we hurt the durable Constitutional order when not complying with the decisions of the Constitutional Court did not damage the constitutional order?
While directing us to arrest, the prosecutor’s office listed his unexplained statements such as “To think otherwise would be to move away from the truth”, “It is not possible to think otherwise”, “It is beyond explanation”. Obviously, all 4 prosecutors said that they should write a joint referral letter, but they could not get out of it. Then, as soon as they knew which one came up with it, they started with “explanation vareste”. They wrote this phrase in Turkish and Arabic. From time to time, they warned you not to think otherwise. They didn’t bother themselves much, and even if they wrote lyrics, they said that if they put an arrest for Violating the Constitutional Order in the request section, there would be no judge to release them. (*) With the same arrest warrant, the Israeli judiciary can issue an arrest warrant for a Palestinian.
Administrative arrest warrants for Palestinians can be extended for years for 6-month periods. There are no concrete reasons for extension decisions. Now, our detention is also under review. All of a sudden, 50 people try to connect with SEGBIS, the single judge listens in series and finally says: You can object. We return to the cells by deducing from this statement that the decision has been made to continue our detention. Our cells are scattered in different cities, far from our judiciary, away from our homes and families. Palestinians are tried in military courts in Western Sharia and held in Israeli prisons. This means that visits to both family and lawyers are prohibited frequently and within the extended period of time under strict travel restrictions.
We are Palestinians in the occupied territories and defenders of rights in our country where injustice prevails.
We will resist until the Palestinians live in a free Palestine and we live in a just country. Obviously, we will be imprisoned from time to time; But we will not cede our land and freedom to anyone.
(*) Indeed, I could not be found, Lawyer Betül Vangölü Kozağaçlı, Lawyer Didem Baydar Ünsal and me we were imprisoned like this.
