Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1994-1995 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
7 items
Context area
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Materials pertaining to the case filed by Khatab Sabir against the Republic of Turkey with the European Commission of Human Rights (application number 24565/94, referred to internally within the Kurdish Litigation Project as Case 102 and assigned to Sheldon Leader as lead) regarding his detainment and abuse while at Diyarbakır Airport awaiting a return flight to England.
The applicant was a Kurdish-born British citizen who had been visiting relatives in northern Iraq. On December 1993, he was in the control area of Diyarbakır Airport when he was approached by security personnel. He and five others were detained. The applicant was forced to empty his pickets of all money, tickets, and valuables. He was refused permission to phone the British Embassy and was forced to sign a paper in Turkish which he could not read or understand. The six men were detained at a security police station until 1 January 1994, during which times they were beaten and threatened. On the second day, the applicant was told that he was being held under suspicion of bank robbery. applicant believed he was held for that duration so that his bruises would heal and show no signs of torture. Criminal proceedings were initiated against the applicant and two co-defendants on 5 January 1994 which end in their acquittal on 18 May 1994. On 4 December 1995, the application was declared inadmissible as the applicant had been acquitted in the domestic trial.
Materials in the file available for viewing include the application and its appendices (including statements of the applicant, news clippings covering Sabir’s detention. translations of Turkish investigation file documents, personal correspondence with the British Consulate, and Turkish Government correspondence with the British Embassy), and the applicant’s reply to the observations of the Government.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
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System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
The observations of the Turkish Government, the European Commission of Human Rights' acknowledgements of submitted documents, and the published decision declaring the application inadmissible, are closed to access until 1 November 2073.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
English
Turkish
Arabic
Script of material
Latin
Arabic