Appeal for the Freedom of Leyla Zana

CONDEMNED
TO ANOTHER 10 YEARS OF PRISON.
DON'T BLOCK HER PATH.

Only 4 years after her release following 11 years of prison, the Turkish government wants to send Leyla Zana back through the prison gates. On December 4th 2008, the criminal court of the city of Diyarbakir handed down a harsh sentence: 10 years for 9 public speeches.

Violation of the antiterrorist laws - that's what the verdict says. Among hercrimes, that of having publicly spoken the name of Abdullah Ocalan, recognised by Leyla Zana as the leader of the Kurdish people.

The history and the content of the speeches of Leyla Zana are known at international level, so much so that she has received prestigious awards, such as the European Sacharov prize for freedom of thought, awarded to her in Brussels by the president of the European Parliament immediately after her release in 2004, and numerous honourary citizenships.

Among these is the citizenship of the Rome, conferred in 1994 and given to her by the delegate of Mayor Alemanno in October 2008, on the occasion of her visit to Italy.

This new and outrageously unjust sentence has already been appealed
and the hearing is fixed for the 2nd June, if there are no
postponements.
The verdict if confirmed will deprive Leyla Zana of her freedom for
ten more long years and will deprive the whole world, starting with
the Kurdish minority in Turkey, of one of the most significant figures
in the difficult process of peace on the path to democratic reforms in
Turkey. It is a process that is already crowded by obstacles and made
a nonesense of by the incessant repression of the Kurdish population
by the Turkish military power. It is a process that is weakened by
the wavering of European politics in the face of the worrying truth
about the Turkish state that any attentive observer will find to be
undeniable.
But it is from Turkey itself - from the most democratic expression of
Turkish society - that an appeal has arrived, signed by intellectuals,
politicians and associations, addressed to European and international
political forces, calling on them to put pressure on their own
governments and on the government in Ankara to put a stop to the new
sentence.
Among the first significant acts of the newly elected president Obam
was the closing of the Guantanamo prison camp, but before the new
springtime arrives in the world other steps are needed at the side of
those who have given so much of their lives for justice. Leyla Zana
has done it and continues to do it - her path cannot, must not be
blocked.


Women in Black, Italy

To sign the petition

http://leyla-zana.blogspot.com/