CAT/C/66/D/846/2017
articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of INTERPOL require that Organization, and its
national central bureaux in its member States, to act in the spirit of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and to strictly prohibit any intervention or activity that may
restrict freedom of expression or repress opponents abroad. On 20 August 2017, the
Chancellor of Germany openly criticized the misuse of INTERPOL by Turkey after the
attempted coup of 2016. The complainant believes that, if the INTERPOL National Central
Bureau of the State party had been more aware of the massive abuse of the INTERPOL
system by Turkey, it would have given more scrupulous consideration to the notification
regarding the complainant and acted in conformity with articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution
of INTERPOL, thereby following the example of the member States of the European Union
and other countries in ignoring the wanted notification issued by the Turkish authorities.
State party’s observations on the merits and on the complainant’s comments
6.1
In a note verbale of 1 February 2019, the State party presented observations on the
complainant’s conditions of detention, including information on his health status and the
medical follow-up he has had.
6.2
The State party reports that the complainant has been detained at the Salé 2 local
prison, pending extradition, since 27 July 2017, as he is the subject of an extradition request
issued by the Turkish judicial authorities. The complainant is subject to the provisions of
Act No. 23/98 on the organization and operation of prisons and is detained in perfectly
normal conditions that are fully in line with the relevant international instruments.
6.3
The State party adds that the complainant has full enjoyment of his rights, including
the right to communicate with his family and his lawyer. He is in contact with his family by
landline telephone and regularly receives visits from his brother and three sons, who bring
him Turkish-language books. He also has the right to communicate with his lawyer when
he visits with a Turkish interpreter, Mr. Barakat Allah.
6.4
Furthermore, the complainant is being held with other inmates and has been placed
with four other detainees in a cell that meets the standards for hygiene, ventilation and
exposure to sunlight. He also has the right to spend at least three hours outdoors every day
and to take part in sports at the prison.
6.5
The complainant’s state of health is regularly monitored by doctors inside and
outside the prison. Since his incarceration, he has had 84 internal consultations (75 in
general medicine and 9 in dentistry), 16 external consultations at the Avicenne University
Hospital in Rabat (in endocrinology, cardiology, ophthalmology and urology) and dental
treatment at the Faculty of Dentistry in Rabat. He has also undergone a liver ultrasound and
laboratory tests that showed nothing out of the ordinary. The complainant is currently
receiving appropriate treatment.
6.6
As for the allegation that the complainant has no access to an interpreter during
visits by health professionals and is therefore unable to inform them of his medical
symptoms and problems, the Moroccan authorities note that the doctors who have
examined the complainant are professionals whose competence has thus far allowed them
to carry out the necessary diagnoses on the basis of the physical and clinical signs that he
has presented. Furthermore, the assessments and results of the tests that have been
conducted have shown that the complainant’s state of health is normal. In addition, the
Moroccan authorities note that while all detainees have the right to have access to an
interpreter during medical examinations, a request must be filed for this service to be
provided.
6.7
With regard to the transmission of the complainant’s medical report to his counsel,
the report in question is available to such counsel at the Salé 2 local prison. Lastly, the State
party points out that the complainant’s case is also being monitored by the National Human
Rights Council and that, on 6 June 2018, he was visited by representatives of the Council,
who were able to observe his conditions of detention and who noted that his state of health
was normal.
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