Turkey issued a rare apology and suspended 19 prison officers on Tuesday after the death of a political activist during injuries allegedly sustained under torture while in custody. Amid a growing public outcry, Turkish Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin apologized to the family of Engin Ceber, who died of a brain hemorrhage last weekend after being held in Istanbul’s Metris prison.
An official inquiry into the death showed that Ceber, 29, had died of “ill treatment,” Sahin told Turkish television.
“I apologize to the relatives of [Ceber] on behalf of my government and the state,” he said. “I am pushing this ahead with a high sensitivity. The number [of suspensions] could rise as the investigation widens. I am very sorry that such an incident was allowed to happen in Turkey at such a time.”
The case casts a question mark over the so-called “zero tolerance” policy towards torture proclaimed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development party (AKP) administration and revived doubts over Turkey’s human rights record, which it has committed itself to improving in a drive to meet EU membership requirements. The government says it has dramatically reduced the instances of torture by reforming the penal code.
Ceber was arrested on Sept. 28 with three fellow activists at a protest highlighting the case of Ferhat Gercek, who was left paralyzed after allegedly being shot in the back by police last year.
Ceber’s lawyer, Oya Aslan, said her client suffered mistreatment at a police station and complained of being repeatedly beaten in prison, where he was detained for allegedly resisting arrest. He suffered a hemorrhage in prison and later died in hospital. The three other activists, who also allege torture, remain in prison. One of them, Aysun Baykal, was reported by the Bianet website to be in a critical condition from injuries and is said to require dialysis treatment.
The prison officer suspensions were announced after the ministry’s human rights directorate ordered an inquiry into the incident. Mehmet Sevigen, an MP for the opposition Republican People’s party, said that keeping the alleged culprits in place would make it impossible to establish the truth.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of