A UK high court on Wednesday stayed the extradition of a British man, Rosslee Charles, to Turkey given concerns over his safety. Charles, a gay man, was convicted of homosexual rape in Turkey in 2006. Before the trial, Charles had been held for six months [Guardian report] in a Turkish prison. During that time he was assaulted by guards and fellow prisoners who beat him while being called derogatory names. According to written submissions to the court, he was also “forcibly converted to Islam and beaten when he made mistakes in the Arabic text that he was forced to read out loud. Charles was allowed to return to the UK before the trial due to fears for his safety. A lower court had agreed to his extradition on the Turkish government’s assurance that Charles would serve his seven-year sentence in a wing designated for LGBT prisoners. The high court allowed Charles’ application to deny extradition on the grounds that, despite the assurance, the special unit was “wholly unworkable.” Due to mass arrests following a failed coup in Turkey there was also fear that the lack of staff would deny Charles the required monitoring for his own safety.

Since the failed coup in Turkey in July, where Turkish military forces tried to overthrow the government, the Turkish government has taken several controversial steps to strengthen its power. Turkish Labor Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said that authorities have dismissed more than 90,000 public servants for alleged connections to the coup [JURIST report]. Earlier in March around 330 individuals were put on trial [JURIST report] for alleged involvement in the attempted coup. In February Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights urged [JURIST report] Turkey to “change course and to display the responsibility and tolerance expected in a democratic society.” The commissioner’s document comes amid increased scrutiny of Turkey’s treatment of journalists and other members of Turkish society, allegedly leading to the repression of free speech and self-censorship. In January a judge for the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals ordered the release [JURIST report] of Turkish judge Aydin Sefa Akay who was detained in July. In November Turkey significantly restricted the activities of NGOs like human rights organizations and children’s groups and arrested opposition party leaders [JURIST reports] alleging they were connected to terror organizations. In October Human Rights Watch warned [JURIST report] that the emergency decrees put in place after the failed coup, had resulted in serious human rights violations. In July Amnesty International condemned [JURIST report] Turkey for attacking the freedom of the press by issuing arrest warrants for 42 journalists.