Turk hunger strike death toll rises

Senay Hanoglu who starved to death last week is helped by a neighbour

ANKARA, Turkey -- The death toll in Turkey's prison hunger strike has reached 20 after a woman starved to death.

Fatma Hulya Tumgan, 32, died in hospital on Saturday after refusing solid food for 187 days, the prisoners' solidarity group Ozgur Tayad told the Associated Press. Tumgan was a member of the banned Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front.

About 250 inmates and relatives have been taking sugared or salted water and vitamins to extend their months-long fast against their transfer from large wards to new prisons where cells house one or three inmates.

The prisoners say the new system leaves them vulnerable to beatings from guards.

Tumgan had been in Ankara's Ulucanlar prison, where some of the worst clashes were seen, and was moved to the hospital soon after the transfer, Ozgur Tayad said.

Turkish officials raided jails across the country in December in an attempt to end the hunger strikes, leading to the deaths of 30 prisoners and two soldiers.

But human rights groups say about 800 inmates and relatives of prisoners are still taking little except sugared water.

'Dozens on verge of death'

The fasts have focused unfavourable attention on Turkey's human rights record and conditions in jails where torture has been documented.

On Tuesday, Amnesty International called on Turkey to end the isolation and abuse of prisoners, and allow them "to associate widely with each other for at least several hours each day."

Authorities defend the raids and the transfers as necessary to break the grip of political groups in the country's dilapidated jails.

Turkey's government submitted two draft laws to parliament Tuesday, opening prisons to outside observers and allowing inmates to take part in some collective activities. Most hunger strikers are continuing their protest, saying the government's promises don't go far enough.

Human rights activists say dozens more hunger strikers are on the verge of death.

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