Police in Turkey have used new emergency decrees enacted after July’s failed coup attempt to torture detainees, according to a report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch.

The report alleges 13 cases of torture at the hands of police, made possible by emergency decrees that absolve government officials of responsibility for their actions.

“By removing safeguards against torture, the Turkish government effectively wrote a blank check to law enforcement agencies to torture and mistreat detainees as they like,” Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia director Hugh Williamson said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency in July after a failed coup attempt. Since then, more than 30,000 people have been arrested, most of them from the military, the education system and the judiciary.

Allegations brought forth in the report include placing prisoners in stress positions, beatings, sleep deprivation and sexual abuse, including one case in which police allegedly told one inmate they could kill him and no one would care because of the state of emergency.

“Because of the state of emergency, nobody will care if I kill you,” the officer allegedly told the detainee. “I will just say I shot you while you tried to run away.”

Another person detained under the emergency decree told HRW a police chief beat him and squeezed his testicles before telling the detainee he would castrate him.

HRW has called on the Turkish government to rescind provisions of the emergency decree that allow police to detain citizens with no judicial review for 30 days and end the restriction on access to legal counsel for up to five days.

“It would be tragic if two hastily passed emergency decrees end up undermining the progress Turkey made to combat torture,” Williamson said.

The Turkish government had no immediate reaction to the HRW report.
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