According to information recently provided to the Kurdish Human Rights Project Legal Team, a hair sample of Abdullah Öcalan's has recently been obtained through covert means which (because of a need to protect the source), the KHRP Legal Team is not at this stage at liberty to disclose.

The samples have been submitted for testing and according to a report from a leading European professor of pharmacology and senior public health official “the [body sample] analysed has elevated levels of chromium (moderately elevated) and of strontium (markedly elevated)”.

Although the professor identifies some uncertainty because the amount of sample was small, he expresses the conclusion that “it seems very likely that the subject from whom the…sample originates has been exposed to a high dose of strontium acutely and/or chronically”.

These matters clearly require further investigation but given their potential importance to Mr Öcalan's health, the KHRP Legal Team has considered that it is appropriate to draw them to the attention of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (the CPT) at the first opportunity. The KHRP has in the past argued that it would be appropriate for Mr Öcalan to have access to independent medical advice and this latest information only underscores the merit of such a course in order to provide some certainty as to the position.

The CPT has visited Imrali Island in the past to monitor Mr Öcalan's conditions of detention and has made a series of recommendations for the improvement of his conditions.

The KHRP Legal Team has also drawn its concerns to the European Court of Human Rights in the context of Mr Öcalan's ongoing complaint that his conditions of detention violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Kurdish Human Rights Project
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Tel: 020 7405 3835
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Kurdish Human Rights Project is an independent, non-political human rights organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all people in the Kurdish regions. It is a registered charity, founded and based in London

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