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Member of Turkish Band Dies on 288th Day of Hunger Strike

US Ambassador Calls on Countries to Release Religious Prisoners Amid Pandemic

The U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom called on governments to release their religious prisoners amid the current pandemic. One of the countries singled out by the ambassador was China. “It’s a good public health move for their nations and it’s morally obviously the right thing to do. We, unfortunately, have a number of religious prisoners around the world in various countries that are being held,” ambassador Sam Brownback said during a briefing on April 2. He explained that COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus, could easily spread in prisons given the tight space. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus as the CCP virus because the Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. Brownback called on several…

Member of Turkish Band Dies on 288th Day of Hunger Strike

ANKARA, Turkey鈥擜 member of a music group that is banned in Turkey has died on the 288th day of a hunger strike protesting the government’s treatment of the band, according to a post on the group’s Twitter account.

The government accuses Grup Yorum of links to the outlawed Revolutionary People鈥檚 Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP/C. The militant group is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union.

The DHKP/C is a Turkish Marxist-Leninist party. It was founded in 1978 and has been involved in a violent聽campaign against the Republic of Turkey since the 1980s.

On Jan. 9 1996, claimed responsibility for the assassination of 脰zdemir Sabanc谋, a prominent Turkish businessman, and two others: an associate Haluk G枚rg眉n and a secretary Nilg眉n Hasefe.

Grup Yorum said singer Helin Bolek died Friday at a home in Istanbul where she had been staging the hunger strike to force the government to reverse its treatment of the band and its members. She was 28.

Grup Yorum has been banned from performing since 2016 while some band members have been jailed.

Bolek and fellow band member, Ibrahim Gokcek, had embarked on the hunger strike while in prison to press the government to lift the ban and free detained band members. They were released in November.

The two were demanding that Grup Yorum be allowed to resume concerts, that jailed band members be released and that lawsuits against the group be dropped. Two Grup Yorum band members, including Gokcek鈥檚 wife, remain in prison.

Bolek and Gokcek were forcibly hospitalized on March 11 but discharged a week later after they refused treatment, the Ankara-based Human Rights Association, or IHD, said.

Hunger strikers in Turkey traditionally refuse food but consume liquids that prolong their protests.

By Suzan Fraser

Epoch Times staff contributed to this report.

This article is from the Internet:Member of Turkish Band Dies on 288th Day of Hunger Strike

China Probes Alleged Fraud at Luckin Coffee, Banks Review IPO Work

HONG KONG/BEIJING—China’s securities regulator said on April 3 it would investigate claims of fraud at Luckin Coffee Inc., and sources said some of the banks involved in the Chinese chain’s successful U.S. IPO last year were reviewing their work in the listing. Shares of Luckin, which competes in China with Starbucks Corp, sank as much as 81 percent on Thursday in New York after it announced an internal investigation had shown its chief operating officer and other employees fabricated sales deals. The company said it had suspended COO Jian Liu and employees reporting to him, following initial recommendations from a special committee that was appointed to investigate issues in its financial statements for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2019. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on Friday it…