LAWYERS for jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has not been heard from for 11 months, have issued an urgent appeal to the United Nations over his continued isolation.

The Asrin Law Office said in the letter to the UN special rapporteur on torture that they had not been able to contact Mr Ocalan and three other prisoners held in Imrali high-security prison since March last year.

An application for an “urgent meeting” with the Kurdish leader was submitted to the Bursa chief public prosecutor’s office on Thursday.

But applications for visits by his legal team and family members are routinely refused or ignored, with lawyers accusing judges and prosecutors of “unlawfully hindering the exercises of their rights by abusing their office.”

A similar request was made in November but this was rejected on the grounds that Mr Ocalan had  been banned from having lawyer meetings for six months and family visits for three months.

His treatment has been condemned by the Council of Europe’s committee to prevent torture which said it contravenes international law on the rights of prisoners.

Rallies are set to take place across the world this weekend as Kurds mark the beginning of the international conspiracy that led to Mr Ocalan’s eventual kidnap and arrest in Nairobi.

Campaigners for Mr Ocalan say that imperialist powers and intelligence services, including the CIA, colluded in his abduction from Kenya and subsequent deportation to Turkey to stand trial on terrorism charges.

He was sentenced to death in June 1999, but that was later commuted to life imprisonment after Turkey abolished the death penalty as part of its bid to become a member of the European Union.

Demands for Mr Ocalan’s freedom are supported by communist parties and trade unions across the world including Britain’s Trade Union Congress and the South African Communist Party.