JAILED Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, along with all political prisoners in Turkey, should be released in response to the outbreak of Covid-19, his family said ahead of his 71^st birthday on Saturday.

Mr Ocalan’s sister, Fatma Ocalan, who has not been able to see the leader of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for five years, demanded that he be freed because of the epidemic.

“Our wish is for peace,” she told the Mesopotamia Agency. “It is not right to be held in prison for so long … at least let him leave under house arrest. The world is passing by.”

Mr Ocalan has been held in isolation on Imrali island since he was jailed in 1998 following what his supporters insist was a sham trial and, until recently, was banned from seeing his family or his legal team.

These restrictions were relaxed briefly last year following a hunger-strike campaign led by Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP Leyla Guven, involving some 7,000 mainly Kurdish political prisoners, which ended in May 2019.

Despite a global campaign demanding his release as essential for solving Turkey’s so-called Kurdish question, Mr Ocalan has remained behind bars for 21 years after his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

His nephew, Ali Ocalan, said that the Kurdish leader was most at risk from Covid-19 due to his age, and described the prison conditions as difficult. He is unable to leave and his family cannot visit.

“Due to the epidemic, it is difficult to hold birthday celebrations this year,” he said. 

Mr Ocalan’s birthday is usually marked by marches and rallies, culminating in a festival held under the slogan “Journey to the Sun” which is attended by hundreds of thousands of supporters.

However, it is usually subjected to bans by authorities, with roadblocks set up barring entry to Amara as well as violent oppression by security forces.