A five-months-pregnant woman was arrested on Sunday for alleged links to the Gülen movement, sparking outrage among activists and opposition politicians, the Bold Medya news website reported.
Aslı Ünlü, 40, who also has a 4-year-old son, was sent to a prison in western Edirne province. She was accused of using ByLock, once widely available online and considered by the government to be a tool of secret communication among supporters of the movement since a failed coup in 2016 despite the lack of any evidence that ByLock messages were related to the abortive putsch.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following a coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the abortive putsch or any terrorist activity.
Peoples’ Democratic Party deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerliğolu said on Twitter it was unacceptable that pregnant women and mothers with young children were being arrested.
Her gün çocuklu, hamile annelerin cezaevlerine girdiği ülkenin adı nedir?
Tüm dünyanın "Türkiye" dediğini duyar gibiyim.
5 aylık hamile, 4 yaş çocuk annesi Aslı Ünlü bugün cezaevine girdi!
Çocukların, anne karnındaki bebeklerin vebali ne ağırdır!
Bilir misin? @bybekirbozdag pic.twitter.com/Eiy5VLFxcc
— Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu (@gergerliogluof) April 9, 2022
The Law on the Execution of Sentences and Security Measures stipulates that even if a pregnant woman is convicted, her sentence shall be postponed. According to the law, “execution of the prison sentence is delayed for women who are pregnant or have given birth within the last year and a half.”
Ünlü’s husband, Emre Ünlü, said his wife had already been experiencing a difficult pregnancy. “When she appeared in court, my wife could barely stand upright from the cramps. The stress of being incarcerated and hunger caused additional problems,” he said.
Emre Ünlü added that their 4-year-old son had surgery just 10 days earlier and desperately needed his mother by his side. He demanded the release of his wife, or at least for her to be put in home arrest.
According to a report by Solidarity with OTHERS, as of November 2021 a total of 219 pregnant women and women with children under 6 years of age were arbitrarily detained or arrested over their suspected links to the Gülen movement.
