Category: Life & Culture

Turkey has experienced a marked resurgence of torture and ill-treatment in custody over the past six years and especially since a coup attempt on July 15, 2016. Lack of condemnation from higher officials and a readiness to cover up allegations rather than investigate them have resulted in widespread impunity for the security forces.

The enormous gulf between Turkey’s constitutional provisions for the protection of human rights and the grim reality on the ground continued to grow during the year. In a landmark decision, Turkey’s Constitutional Court in November 2020 found a government decree that granted immunity to civilians who were involved in criminal activities to suppress the abortive putsch to be constitutional, hence sanctioning the country’s culture of impunity at the highest level.

Turkey is party to several international conventions that have different review and inspection mechanisms such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. According to information published on the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, the country is currently party to 16 UN human rights conventions and 121 of the CoE’s 225 conventions and has signed 31 other conventions.

Yet in the recent past the Turkish government has continuously disregarded the provisions of the constitution and failed to uphold its international obligations. For instance, Turkey has for four years blocked the publication of a report by a CoE delegation that paid a fact-finding visit to Turkey in 2016 to investigate allegations of torture and ill treatment in Turkish correctional facilities.

The CoE’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) confirmed in two reports published in August 2020 the continued existence of ill-treatment, torture, informal questioning and restricted access to a lawyer as well as a fundamentally flawed medical screening system in Turkish detention facilities.

Here is some of the most important news from 2021 in the field of torture and inhuman treatment:

Torture and Inhuman Treatment in Turkey: 2021 in Review – Stockholm Center for Freedom (stockholmcf.org)

The most wanted man in NSW has allegedly been found hiding in the back of a truck after a costly search spanning four states and several weeks ended in a “great day” for police.

Police say they pulled over the truck as it crossed the Queensland border about 1am today.

Officers claim they knocked on a shipping container the truck was transporting and that Mostafa Baluch, who had been on the run since last month, knocked back.

Police allege Mr Baluch was hiding in a Mercedes 4WD which was inside the container.

Police had been searching for the 33-year-old since he allegedly cut off an ankle tracking bracelet and disappeared from his home on Sydney’s northern beaches on October 25 while on bail.

Mr Baluch was charged over an attempt to import 900 kilograms of cocaine into NSW and just days before he disappeared he had been granted bail.

A multi-agency investigation involving police in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia has been working around the clock for the past 17 days in an attempt to find him.

Police said the truck was stopped after officers received a tip off Mr Baluch could be hiding inside a vehicle trying to cross the border.

Police claim they had been checking trucks travelling through Tweed Heads when they noticed an unlocked container on the back of the truck Mr Baluch was on.

Detective Superintendent Robert Critchlow said Mr Baluch was a “bit shocked” he had been found.

He was arrested and remains in custody in Southport. He is expected to face court later today.

Detectives are now travelling to Queensland to seek Mr Baluch’s extradition to NSW.

Police Minister David Elliott said he would be “skipping around all day”.

“Today will be considered one of the great days of NSW Police,” he said.

Mr Elliott described the decision to grant the 33-year-old bail as “questionable” and said it proved the current review into the state’s bail laws was justified.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith said the investigation had cost an “extraordinary” amount of money.

“I’d have nightmares if I even started to think about it. But if it’s $1, it’s $1 unnecessarily spent,” Mr Elliott said.

The man police claim was driving the truck has been arrested in Grafton in northern NSW and will face charges in relation to conveying a wanted person out of a jurisdiction.

The trucking company which he works for will now be investigated by police with a “fine-toothed comb”, Detective Superintendent Critchlow said.

“We understand they’ll have few trucks left on the road tomorrow,” he said.

Last week, police alleeged Mr Baluch had a “senior role” in a wider criminal network and that they had concerns for the public’s safety while he remained at large.

In relation to the investigation, police raided two properties in Potts Hill and Yagoona five days ago and seized $250,000 in cash, 200 grams of cocaine, mobile phones, money-counting machines and 458 grams of an “unknown substance”.

They also seized a black Range Rover with Queensland number plates after it was captured on CCTV driving through the M4 tunnel near Croydon only hours after Mr Baluch fled his Bayview home.

The state has seized Mr Baluch’s northern beaches home, which was put forward as bail surety.

Police said the property was valued at $4 million.

Assistant Commissioner Smith said police would seize more of Mr Baluch’s assets.

Mr Baluch is facing charges over an alleged attempt to import cocaine into Australia from Ecuador.

The cocaine was seized from a vessel travelling off the coast of Ecuador in April and had a street value of $270 million. ABC

A giant 7.9kg potato found in a New Zealand couple’s overgrown garden may set a new world record for the largest of its kind ever to be discovered.

Colin and Donna Craig-Brown’s were doing a spot of weeding in their Hamilton back yard, when Colin’s hoe hit something below the ground.

“So I said to Donna this must be one of those white kūmara (sweet potato) that we grew,” he told Stuff, “because some of them just grew massive here.”

He tasted it, discovered it was potato and set about excavating it from the soil.

The bulbous tuber weighs the same as an extra-large turkey and would exceed the allowance for check-in luggage. The couple named their new discovery Doug, and have grown pretty fond of him.

“We put a hat on him. We put him on Facebook, taking him for a walk, giving him some sunshine,” Colin told the NZ Herald. “It’s all a bit of fun. It’s amazing what entertains people.”

The couple say they’ve applied to Guinness to have Doug recognised and are waiting to hear back.

The couple could not recall when they last planted potatoes in their garden, but guessed it must have been about two or three years ago. Colin thinks perhaps Doug self-seeded.

“It’s a mystery to me,” Colin said. “It’s one of nature’s little pleasant surprises.”

“It’s fair to say our veggie garden can sometimes get a bit feral. There are some parts of the garden you need to pack a lunch and advise your next of kin before heading in to,” he told Stuff.

The couple have wrapped Doug in plastic-bags to keep him from drying out, and Colin, an amateur brewer, says he is now keen to turn the oversized tuber into vodka. The Guardian

The Australian government has ordered 300,000 doses of a new antiviral pill that has shown signs of slashing COVID-19 deaths and hospitalisations by around 50 per cent.

Molnupiravir, developed and produced by American Pharmaceutical giant Merck Sharp & Dohme, is currently in late-stage clinical trials.

“Vaccines and new treatments like this will boost our National Plan to safely reopen Australia and keep Australia safely open,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

“While our vaccination rate continues to climb, we’ve been investing in and closely monitoring research into COVID-19 treatments and we are securing supply of promising treatments.”

Molnupiravir has been developed as a first-line treatment for adult coronavirus patients with mild to moderate symptoms.

The drug company earlier announced trial results showing the treatment reduced hospitalisations and deaths by around 50 per cent.

Should it be approved by the TGA for use in Australia, its expected the drug will be made available from early 2022.

Other COVID-19 treatments like Sotrovimab and Remdesivir are already being used by medical professionals to COVID-19 patients.

A treatment of Molnupiravir consists of capsules taken twice a day for five days by adult patients.

The drug does not require refrigeration, allowing it to be used by individuals or in high risk locations.

“An oral pill is obviously a much easier means of helping people,” Mr Hunt told reporters on Monday.

“These would be made available on the basis of need right across the country.”

Meanwhile, Australia has received 15,000 additional doses of the antibody treatment sotrovimab, which is used to stop the virus replicating.

The national stockpile of the drug, administered by intravenous infusion within five days of patients developing symptoms, is expected to exceed 30,000 doses this year.

It has been shown to reduce hospitalisation or death in patients with mild or moderate infections and who are at high risk of severe illness.

“It helps activate the body and its immune system to fight against COVID,” the health minister said.

“In many cases, it will mean the difference between hospitalisation or no hospitalisation, ICU or no ICU, and in some cases it will prevent the loss of life.”

While vaccines remain the first port of call for beating coronavirus, University of South Australia epidemiologist Adrian Esterman has emphasised the importance of finding new treatments.

“There has been not much emphasis placed on research into treatment since the start of this pandemic,” he said.

“Even with 100 per cent of the population fully vaccinated, there will still be virus circulating because none of the vaccines is 100 per cent effective against transmission.”

At the same time, ensuring the world is vaccinated will drastically reduce the severity of the disease and the need for treatment.

“It’s early days yet for the treatments and we’re still waiting for many of the trials to complete to see what other treatments are potentially helpful against coronavirus,” Professor Esterman said.

“Over the next few years, we can see ongoing improvements in vaccine technology, in particular to handle these different variants, and this could be a constant battle between new variants of vaccines.” SBS

Scott Morrison has lashed premiers for casting doubt over border reopenings, insisting Aussie families will be reunited at Christmas.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has thrown down the gauntlet to state premiers over ongoing border closures, insisting political leaders owe it to Australians to allow families to reunite at Christmas.

Mr Morrison said he couldn’t see any reason why people should be kept apart by state borders after the 80 per cent national vaccination target was reached.

“It’s important that we do move forward. We can’t stay in second gear. We’ve got to get to top gear in living with the virus … that’s where we need to be,” he told Weekend Sunrise on Sunday.

“My message is to Australians that what I‘d like them to have for Christmas is their lives back.”

Mr Morrison slammed Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and WA’s Mark McGowan for their unwillingness to commit to granting Australians that same wish.

“There comes a time when you’ve got to honour the arrangement you’ve made with the Australian people, and that is when you get to 80 per cent vaccination, it’s very clear that you can start opening up,” the PM said.

“I think that puts the big challenge on the premiers. I mean, they’ve had the power to do what they’ve been doing. They’re not new powers. They’ve always had them.

“But, you know, there comes a time when you just got to move on and get on with it.”

But the Queensland and WA premiers have held firm in their resistance of the national plan.

Ms Palaszczuk has demanded more research into the effects of Covid-19 on children before she says her state will embrace the reopening targets agreed on at national cabinet.

Mr McGowan has shown similar defiance, insisting WA is unlikely to reopen its borders until 2022.

But Mr Morrison slapped down both premiers’ claims, insisting the entire country should reopen at the 80 per cent vaccination target, which is expected to be reached before the end of the year.

“Once you get to 80 per cent of your population that’s vaccinated, it’s very clear. I can’t see any reason why Australians should be kept from each other,” he said.

“(Reopening by Christmas) is within the gift of governments. And that’s a gift I’d like to see us give them.”

The PM also made it clear that the country would not wait for vaccine-hesitant Aussies to make up their minds, insisting the national plan will go ahead as planned whether people decide to get their jab or not.

“Once we get to 80 per cent – the fact is that everybody has had the chance to get vaccinated by that point,” he said.

“If you’ve chosen not to get vaccinated, that’s your choice … but we must go into the next chapter.” News

Three members of the asylum-seeking Tamil family from the Queensland town of Biloela have been granted 12-month bridging visas, allowing them to remain in the country.

The heartfelt moment a Sydney Covid patient was released from hospital after 399 days has been captured, and he had one important message.

A Covid-19 patient who spent more than a year recovering in a Sydney hospital has urged people not to wait and get vaccinated now.

David Avila Mellado, 69, was finally released from Westmead Hospital earlier this month after a marathon 399 days of treatment.

“I have in my heart everybody I remember,” he said.

“When I do exercise in the corridor, I know everyone, everyone they say to me, ‘hello David’. I feel happy because I don’t remember many people, but they know me.”

He was first admitted in July last year and his condition deteriorated rapidly, landing him in ICU for seven weeks.

Once he was well enough he was transferred to the respiratory observation unit.

Mr Avila Mellado then worked with speech pathologists, physios and other medical professionals to help regain his strength.

His tracheostomy tube was removed in August after more than a year of not being able to breathe on his own or talk.

Staff formed a wall of honour and clapped him as he walked out of the hospital that had been his home for 399 days.

But his journey to recovery doesn’t end there.

Western Sydney Health said Mr Mellado will continue rehabilitation beyond Westmead Hospital.

Respiratory observation nurse unit manager Trudy Darling described Mr Avila Mellado as part of the family.

“We miss him and it’s sad to see him go, but he needs to get back to his family,” she said.

While leaving hospital Mr Avila Mellado issued an impassioned plea to Australians.

“Many people, they don’t want the vaccine. But it’s (Covid-19) real. So they have to understand, they have to get the vaccine, they have to help the other people too,” he said.

“My recommendation and the final idea is tell the people: don’t wait. Try to get the vaccine as soon as possible.”

There are 1231 Covid-19 cases being treated in NSW hospitals now, with 231 of those in intensive care – 108 of whom are on a ventilator. NEWS