Conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan
Use this form to send the letter below to the relevant authority (ASAL - Central Office for Recruitment, Ankara). You can add your own notes in a separate box after the standard text, if you wish. You must include a name, address, and email address; a copy will be sent to you with a cc to the WRI office (so we have a record of how many email letters have been sent out for this particular case).
Dear Chief of staff at ASAL
I am very concerned about the treatment of conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan, who was arrested at 5am on 8 April 2005. He was held at the police station in Izmir until the recruitment office opened, and then reassigned to a military unit in Tokat, although he had declared himself a conscientious objector.
Although Mehmet Tarhan was released from military prison following his trial on 9 June, he was then transferred back to his military unit in Tokat, given an order, and returned to the military prison in Sivas. This decision has been made by ASAL - in violation of international legal standards. In the case of Turkish conscientious objector Osman Murat Ulke the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention decided in 1999 (Opinion 36/1999) that any detention of a conscientious objector after an initial detention following a first act of refusal is "arbitrary, being contrary to article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights".
I call on you to immediately release conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan from prison and from the military, as the present imprisonment is arbitrary and a violation of Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I call on you to respect the right to life, and the right to conscientious objection.
- Sign and send this protest email