Escaped Iranian prisoner said he paid 20k pounds to police to help him escape from prison in north Cyprus

A prisoner who escaped from a Lefkosa prison in April after he was taken to the hospital on health grounds has spoken from his base in Iran where he claimed the police helped him escaped.

The escaped prisoner who escaped from a hospital in Lefkosa on April, 25 made the revelation to Turkish Cypriot daily, Yeniduzen in a video call and according to him, he paid 20,000 pounds to secure his freedom.

While in prison for drug offenses, 29-year-old Mohamed Amine Khereoub was taken to the hospital for appendicitis surgery where he escaped through the bathroom after the operation, he told Yeniduzen from Iran.

Khereoub said he contacted a police officer who helped him escape from the hospital for 20, 000 Pounds Sterling while still a prisoner.

He left the country via the Girne harbor to Turkey from where he went to Iran.

If you reach the right man at the right time, you can do anything you want in prison, because there is corruption and bribery, he said.

Revealing how it all happened, Khereoub said he once asked someone to bring him a phone for a few thousand pounds. 

So I had a phone call while I was in prison. When another guard saw this, they beat me terribly so my appendix exploded and I had to be hospitalized.

The police helped me to the hospital early April 25th. The guard was resting then, so I ran out of the bathroom and got into a police car. He took me to Girne harbor.

He noted that there is torture in prison and that most authorities took bribes.

Khereoub was arrested in Dipkarpaz on charges of drug offense in February and hospitalized for appendix surgery on April, 21.  

While in Dipkarpaz, the police found 30 grams of drugs on him and arrested him. He said instead of taking him to the police station, the police took him to the cemetery, beat  him to make him talk  and asked who he was related to. 

This is against human rights, he said. I didn't want to talk without a lawyer which was within my right but they beat me. I got 30 stitches in the hospital. They told the doctor that I fell.

He said after then, he was taken to the police station and then to court. He said 30 grams of drugs was found on him, but they cited 100 grams as evidence in court. 

Maybe I was given a longer prison sentence because of this, he said. He added that he had seen and heard a lot while in prison.

He noted that there were no humanitarian conditions in the prison.

Prisoners are treated badly, subjected to violence and people abused, he said.

Most of the prison inmates are foreigners and do not speak Turkish. If we were asked question and we couldn't answer, we will be thrown into a beating cell.

He revealed that he had been looking for a way to escape from the beginning. While in prison, he planned his escape and started to look for a better date.

He noted that he was supposed to have a trial on June, 13 and wanted to escape before this date and started looking out for a way.

I contacted a corrupt police man and offered him 20,000 pounds and he accepted. He told me to wait till the court day but I didn't want to wait that long.

He noted that officers in the country are taking bribes. Anyone who doesn't have money to bribe and is corrupt will rot in prison.

He said he didn't accept the charges against him. He said he is a business person and has been alone since he was 16.

I was arrested without proof and they couldn't prove it neither did they find my fingerprint. Even though I didn't know what my crime is, I believe it was because I did something to ruin their business, he said.

He said he lived for a total of 12 years in the south and north of Cyprus.

He said he already had money out side the prison. All he did was call someone to hand over the money to the police.

Someone ended his life in prison, but while would a person do such a thing?, he asked. I had to ensure my own justice by running away this way.

 Source: Yeniduzen