THE HEAD of the protection of human rights organisation Leda Koursoumba yesterday urged President Tassos Papadopoulos to issue a pardon for the parents of a six-month old Kurdish boy who has been locked away in the central prisons with his mother.

The boy and his parents were arrested and sentenced to two months in prison for illegal entry to Cyprus through the occupied areas.

The boy is with his mother inside the women’s wing of the Nicosia Central Prisons, and the father is in police custody awaiting trial.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday, Koursoumba said the little boy was in good shape and was being looked after by everyone.
“Under the circumstances the child is in a very good condition,” she said.
“The authorities cannot communicate with the mother because they don’t know which dialect she is speaking to get an interpreter but with the help of other prisoners we have managed to figure out the child is six months old.

“The other inmates have created a warm environment for the child – he’s too young to realise where he is. They have put up Christmas decorations and they are all taking turns looking after him. Of course this doesn’t mean that it’s acceptable for any child to be imprisoned in Cyprus in this day and age.”

Koursoumba said the only way for the child’s parents to be released now was by way of a Presidential pardon.

“The only way out is for the President to issue a pardon to the parents, but the Attorney-general also has to agree to this,” she said.

“This takes place with a suggestion from the Central Prisons administration through the Justice Ministry, and each year there is a tradition where the President grants a pardon to some of the prisoners. I don’t know if that will take place this year,” she added.
“The child is not a prisoner, his parents have been convicted and not the child so he should not have to be in prison.”
Koursoumba declined to comment on the court’s decision but suggested the family could have been deported instead of locked up.

“I don’t know whether they should have been jailed in the first place or they could have been deported instead, but this is not the way to treat them. The mother and the child at least should have been released,” she said.

“The boy is being monitored by a paediatrician on a daily basis, there is a small cot for it and the administration supplies baby food. The prisons are very clean and I was quite impressed.”

Prison governor Panicos Kyriacou said “it’s not the best place for a child to be in and not the best environment, but we are trying to create a warm surrounding for the child, quiet and in a separate room,” he said.