Women inmates tortured, dragged on the floor, threatened in Turkish prison

Two women inmates had been battered, hogtied for hours, dragged by their hair on the floor and subjected to threats in Turkey's Patnos prison, a report by lawyers and rights defenders said.

The report cited the statements of inmates Lale Kabisen and Nazlican Bariser who told lawyers that they were beaten up for about 40 minutes by a group of prison guards, then hogtied and left in a cell for nearly four hours.

The head of the prison administration reportedly came to the cell to tell the hogtied women, "This is what will happen when you complain about problems here to people outside."

They were later dragged on the floor by their hair as they were taken to a vehicle for their transfer to the hospital and they were reverse handcuffed, the inmates said.

The report noted that Kabisen and Bariser had bruises around their necks and wrists, that they could hardly walk, and could not move their hands and some other parts of their bodies comfortably, and that they evidently suffered pain as they sat down and got up. There were also bruises in other parts of their bodies and cuts on their heads.

The Bar Association of Van province, the Association of Lawyers for Freedom and the Association for Solidarity with Families of Prisoners called on Turkish authorities to launch an investigation into the incident.