Mehmet Edip Taşar, a critically ill, 70-year-old Kurdish prisoner, died in a hospital on Tuesday after authorities repeatedly denied his release despite his worsening health, the Artı Gerçek news website reported.
Taşar had been transferred to an İstanbul hospital on March 3 after a report by Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) recommended hospitalization and a temporary suspension of his sentence. The ATK had previously found him fit to remain in prison on three earlier occasions.
Eight Turkish human rights groups had called for his release in February, warning that the refusal to suspend Taşar’s sentence despite severe health problems put his life at risk.
Taşar underwent his 19th angioplasty on February 12 after his condition sharply deteriorated. He was suffering from heart failure as well as several chronic illnesses, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes.
He had been imprisoned since December 2022 after being sentenced to more than 22 years in connection with a 2016 bombing in İstanbul claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), an armed group affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
Under Turkey’s Law on the Execution of Sentences and Security Measures, courts may suspend the sentence of a prisoner who, due to a serious illness or disability, cannot sustain life under prison conditions and who is not considered a serious or concrete danger to society. Rights groups say the provision is very rarely applied in practice.
