Imprisoned Kurdish activist Kenan Ayaz on Tuesday entered the thirteenth day of hunger strike, while the Supreme Court decision on his case is expected to be imminently announced.
The Kurd’s appeal against the decision to extradite him to Germany will be heard at 9am.
The Kurdish-Cypriot solidarity association issued a statement on Monday evening expressing the hope that “the judges of the Supreme Court will rise to the occasion when issuing its decision.”
Ayaz was reported as having refused treatment by prison doctors and having stated that he will continue his hunger strike for as long as there is no response to his demands.
“Our state must protect him instead of sending him to Germany from where he will be sent as an alleged terrorist to Turkey,” the statement added.
Ayaz was arrested on a European warrant issued by Germany, which is seeking his extradition on terrorism charges.
Cypriot representative of the group supporting Ayaz’ cause, Lambros Kallenos, in earlier statements to the media, said the activist faced the prospect of his life being in danger if he were to be sent to Germany and from there on to Turkey.
“We demand that Kenan Ayaz not be extradited because he will end up in Turkey. Germany has been an ally of Turkey for decades. We cannot give credit to the guarantees they give. In Turkey, Ayaz is awaiting a 36-year prison sentence and his life will certainly be in danger.
“As Cypriots, we say that it is inconceivable that Cyprus would cooperate in such an extradition of a fighter who participated in the Kurdish struggle. He is not accused of anything specific that you can say is terrorism. He simply took part in seminars at a university in Germany, published a book, gave speeches. This is not terrorism,” he added.
President of Larnaca district court Michalis Papathanasiou, while reading the verdict confirming the acceptance of the activist’s extradition request, had said that “no evidence presented before the court pointed to a further extradition of Ayaz to Turkey from Germany.”
Papathanasiou also added that, given the activist’s concerns, the Larnaca court requested Germany not to proceed with a further extradition to Turkey.