Ahmet Zeki Özkan, a 67-year-old architect who was arrested despite his end-stage cancer, died on Monday, the TR724 news website reported.
Özkan was arrested in February 2022 and sentenced to over six years in prison for conviction of links to the faith-based Gülen movement despite suffering from late-stage cancer.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen since the corruption investigations of 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 an abortive putsch in July 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Özkan was diagnosed with lung cancer in October 2020. The Antalya Council of Forensic Medicine issued a report saying he was not fit to be incarcerated. At the time of his arrest, doctors only gave him a year to live.
However, the national Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) issued a contradictory report, saying he could stay in a prison that had a doctor and an infirmary.
The ATK frequently comes under criticism over its questionable reports that find ailing inmates fit to remain in prison. Rights advocates slam the agency over its lack of independence from political influence and its role in compounding the persecution of political prisoners.
The Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office ruled against the postponing of Özkan’s sentence based on the ATK report. Özkan was sent to a prison in southern Antalya province and was confined to a quarantine cell.
Inmates who had just arrived in prison were required to stay in quarantine cells due to COVID-19 measures. However, these cells were notorious for their poor conditions and overcrowding.
His family, at the time, urged authorities for his immediate release.
“My husband was not even provided with a bed,” said, his wife, Yasemin Özkan. “He was just given a blanket and told to sleep on the floor. This is very detrimental to his health, as he can’t afford to be sick.”
Özkan was released in August 2022 after his condition quickly deteriorated due to the negligence and conditions in prison, prompting widespread commentary on social media.
In recent years, NGOs and international organizations have reported a number of problems related to prison conditions in Turkey, including overcrowding, poor hygiene, lack of access to proper medical care and lack of adequate nutrition.
Turkish authorities have been frequently criticized for their systematic disregard of the health problems of political prisoners. In recent years, many inmates have died of their illnesses either behind bars or shortly after their belated release.
According to the Human Rights Association (İHD), there were 1,517 sick inmates in Turkish detention facilities as of December 2022, 651 of whom were critically ill.
Özkan was accused of donating to a charity affiliated with the Gülen movement and of sending his children to a private school that had links to the movement.
Since the coup attempt, a total of 705,172 people have been investigated on terrorism or coup-related charges due to their alleged links to the movement. There are currently 13,251 people in prison who are in pre-trial detention or convicted of terrorism in Gülen-linked trials.
Between June 2023 and June 2024, Turkish authorities carried out a total of 5,543 police operations and arrested 1,595 people linked to the movement.
