Prison authorities have failed to take Şehriban Mimkara, an inmate suffering from throat cancer, to the hospital for five months, the Mezopotamya news website reported on Thursday.
Mimkara, who has submitted numerous petitions to the prison administration requesting transfer to a hospital, said the transfer has been repeatedly postponed by the officials, who keep telling her, “Next week.”
“This is arbitrary treatment; the cancer is spreading to other parts of her body,” her lawyer, Gül Fehime Binici, said. “She has lost a significant amount of weight.”
She was last taken to the hospital in April.
Diagnosed with throat cancer in January, Mimkara underwent surgery shortly afterward, during which one of three tumors was removed.
Doctors reportedly said the remaining two tumors needed to grow before they could be removed and emphasized that Mimkara should visit the hospital twice a month for check-ups.
Mimkara was arrested on February 2, 2021 on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization.”
Every year rights groups report the death of dozens of sick prisoners, either while behind bars or shortly after their belated release, which often comes at the end-stage of their illnesses.
Turkish authorities have been frequently criticized for their systematic disregard of the health problems of political prisoners.
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.
Moreover, Turkey’s prison system is notorious for its poor conditions, particularly for ill inmates and the issue of overcrowding.
