From Amnesty’s campaign: What happened to Hakan Yaman?

In the wrong place at the wrong time, Hakan Yaman was beaten so badly by police that his skull partially collapsed.  An officer then gouged out one of Yaman’s eyes (he also lost 80% of his vision in the other eye from the injuries he sustained that night).  Then the police dragged him onto a fire to sustain burns over much of his body.  Then they left him for dead.

Let’s help give him the gift of justice this holiday season.

Amnesty protest in Ankara calling for justice for Hakan

Hakan is one of thousands of victims of police violence during the Gezi protests.  He was featured in Amnesty’s report on the Gezi protests and in videos that Amnesty produced (available in English and in Turkish).  See here for photos of protests that Amnesty staged in four different cities in Turkey earlier this month.

As part of Amnesty’s campaign more than a hundred letters of support have reached Hakan from eleven different countries.

There are two simple things you can do today to help ensure that justice is not once again denied in Turkey:

1. Write to the Turkish government demanding that an effective, independent and impartial investigation takes place to identify and prosecute those responsible for this brutal attack.

2.  Use social media to call attention to this case.  Share this blog and use twitter to call attention to the case:

.@erginsadullah #HakanYamanaNeOldu? Tarafsız ve bağımsız bir soruşturma yürütün. Failleri yargılayın. #Write4Rights @aforgutu #GeziParki

.@AdaletBakanligi #HakanYamanaNeOldu? Tarafsız ve bağımsız bir soruşturma yürütün. Failleri yargılayın. #Write4Rights @aforgutu #GeziParki

.@erginsadullah #HakanYamanaNeOldu? Conduct an impartial & independent investigation.Bring those responsible to justice #Write4Rights 

.@AdaletBakanligi #HakanYamanaNeOldu? Conduct an impartial&independent investigation.Bring those responsible to justice #Write4Rights 

.@AdaletBakanligi #HakanYamanaNeOldu? 3 Haziran günü polis #HakanYaman‘ı dövdü, ağır yaraladı. Failleri yargılayın. #Write4Rights @aforgutu

.@erginsadullah #HakanYamanaNeOldu? 3 Haziran günü polis #HakanYaman‘ı dövdü, ağır yaraladı. Failleri yargılayın. #Write4Rights @aforgutu

.@AdaletBakanligi #HakanYamanaNeOldu? On 3 June police beat&seriously injured #HakanYaman in Istanbul.Prosecute them #Write4Rights @aforgutu 

.@erginsadullah #HakanYamanaNeOldu? On 3 June police beat&seriously injured #HakanYaman in Istanbul. Prosecute them. #Write4Rights @aforgutu 

.@AdaletBakanligi #HakanYamanaNeOldu? Cezasızlığa son. #HakanYaman‘ı döven polisler yargılanmalı. #Write4Rights #GeziParki @aforgutu

.@erginsadullah #HakanYamanaNeOldu? Cezasızlığa son. #HakanYaman‘ı döven polisler yargılanmalı. #Write4Rights  @aforgutu #GeziParki

.@AdaletBakanligi #HakanYamanaNeOldu? End impunity for #HakanYaman. Police who beat him must be prosecuted. #Write4Rights @aforgutu 

.@erginsadullah #HakanYamanaNeOldu? End impunity for #HakanYaman. Police who beat him must be prosecuted. #Write4Rights @aforgutu

Without your voices, who will call for justice in Turkey?

Howard Eissenstat
St. Lawrence University