A 78-year-old female prisoner in Turkey’s East who is suffering from heart and lung disease and hypertension was hospitalized on Sunday, the left-wing Artı Gerçek news site reported.
Sise Bingöl, detained and arrested in the Varto district of Turkey’s Muş province on April 6, 2017, is serving a four-year sentence on charges of “willingly and knowingly aiding an illegal organization,” namely the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group that has been waging a war in Turkey for over three decades.
Despite petitions for the release of Bingöl, whose health has been worsening while behind bars, the 78-year-old has remained incarcerated.
Bingöl’s lawyer, Gülşen Özbek, said her client was receiving treatment at Mersin University Hospital and that hoped the necessary health report allowing for her release would be issued.
Turkey’s most prominent journalist-in-exile, Can Dündar, reacted to the news on Twitter by blasting Turkish officials. ”May you drown in your own tyranny,” Dündar said.
Bingöl, who is able to meet her daily needs only with the help of other inmates, was previously denied release on probation, despite health reports attesting to her poor health.
There are currently 1,025 sick prisoners in Turkish penal institutions, 357 of whom are in critical condition, according to the Human Rights Association (İHD). (Ahval)
