A bill passed on Tuesday by the Turkish parliament allows intelligence officers to temporarily take inmates out of prison facilities for “questioning” on terrorism-related crimes, the Cumhuriyet newspaper reported.

The provision was included in a wider legislative package on criminal execution laws, most notably reducing the execution of prison sentences to relieve overcrowded prisons amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the legislation, intelligence agencies will be able to bring prisoners out for interrogation upon request by “relevant authorities” or prosecutors, with the permission of criminal court judges and with the consent of prisoners.

The period of questioning will not exceed four days at a time, and the overall limit will be 15 days per prisoner, according to the report. The health of the inmates will be documented by doctors during the prisoners’ time away from the prison facilities. (turkishminute.com)

Take a second to support SCF on Patreon!