AMNESTY International USA is campaigning for the release of Greek Cypriot diabetic Panicos Tsiakourmas, held by Turkish Cypriot authorities for nearly three months on charges of drug smuggling.
The father of three was abducted from British Base territory on December 13. He has been incarcerated in Turkish Cypriot custody ever since.
Fears for his health are high. His family claims that the stress and inactivity of his captivity are shooting his blood sugar levels to a dangerous high.
Amnesty International USA took up his case after being briefed by the organisation’s international secretariat based in London, by Amnesty International Cyprus and other national branches of the global pressure group.
Tsiakourmas’ wife Niki has campaigned night and day for his release, raising the matter with the British government as well as the Cyprus authorities.
Amnesty USA has called on President George W. Bush to demand the immediate and unconditional release of Tsiakourmas.
They claim he has been mistreated, after being kidnapped and held illegally in the occupied areas on trumped up charges of drug possession.
They also refer to threats made by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash of retaliation after Turkish Cypriot Omer Tekogul was arrested for trafficking heroin on December 1, last year, just days before Tsiakourmas was seized.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
