Sedat Aslantas, Deputy Secretary General of the Turkish Human Rights Association (THRA) and President of the Diyarbakir branch, was arrested by four plainclothes policemen, and taken to the Anti-Terror Branch of the Ankara Police Headquarters on 12 May 1994. There are fears that he may be interrogated under torture. His arrest is linked with the detention of 16 other lawyers in Diyarbakir and Istanbul in November 1993. Several reported being tortured and ill-treated in incommunicado detention. Eight were committed to prison on charges of assisting the PKK, and possession of forbidden publications. All have now been released, although their trial continues at Diyarbakir State Security Court.
