ANKARA - Justice Ministry said on Thursday that Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the terrorist organization who was being kept in Imrali Prison, was not given any privileges different to the treatment towards other inmates.
A statement of Justice Ministry said that some press organs published or broadcast claims ''that misled the public and that were against the realities.''
The statement noted that claims about a privileged treatment and allegations that preparations for transfer of Ocalan to Sincan F type prison had been accelerated were unfounded.
The ministry was not carrying out such initiatives, the statement stressed.
The statement said, ''keeping Ocalan in Imrali prison, which is a secure place, was considered as appropriate because of Ocalan's legal status and the security risks. Our country is a side to European Convention on Human Rights and it has to implement basic inmate rights set by international prison standards and rules in Imrali prison as in all other prisons.''
''To this end, the mentioned inmate has the rights to receive medical treatment, feed, receive visitors, meet with lawyers, read newspapers and books, and listen to radio as other people convicted of terrorist crimes do. He is not given any other privilege than all these rights which are granted to all the other inmates,'' the statement noted.
The statement added, ''so, the claims which have implied privileged treatment and allegations that preparations for transfer of Ocalan to Sincan F type prison which is still under construction are unfounded. Such issues are not on the agenda of our ministry.''