Delegates visit Ocalan

Strasbourg - Members of a European panel against torture met jailed Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan on Turkey's prison island…

Strasbourg - Members of a European panel against torture met jailed Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan on Turkey's prison island of Imrali without witnesses present, the Council of Europe said yesterday. The meeting took place on Tuesday.

The delegates also met police and government representatives in Istanbul and Izmir, according to a Council of Europe statement.

The information gleaned by the group remains confidential, the statement added. The team was the first international delegation to be given access to Mr Ocalan since his forced return to Turkey.

Meanwhile, it was announced yesterday that delegates at a Kurdistan Workers' Party congress had re-elected Mr Ocalan as their chairman.