An inmate at Erzurum Dumlu Prison was denied urgent surgery for a life-threatening brain aneurysm after authorities insisted the procedure be performed with the patient in handcuffs and in a room designated by prison officials, despite doctors warning the conditions were medically unsafe, the TR724 news website reported.
Mahsum Yüksekbağ, a university student at the time of his arrest, has served 10 years of an aggravated life sentence due to conviction on terrorism-related charges. He was accused of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
In a visit to the hospital last week, the doctor said the operation could only be performed in a suitable surgical environment and without handcuffs. Otherwise, the procedure would carry unacceptable medical risk. When security officers refused to remove the handcuffs, the operation was canceled. Yüksekbağ reportedly described the conditions as “humiliating” and “inhumane” and said, “No matter what, I do not accept this treatment that violates human dignity.”
Yüksekbağ was returned to prison without the operation being performed. His condition remains serious and life-threatening, with each passing day increasing the risk.
Last week Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, deputy from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), visited Yüksekbağ in prison and called attention to his urgent health problems.
“Mahsum urgently needs surgery. He has a 2.5 cm aneurysm in his brain that could rupture at any moment. Yet he’s being denied surgery because of a handcuff requirement. That cyst could burst anytime, and he could die. This must be resolved immediately. I call on the justice minister to intervene and resolve this issue,” he said in a social media post.
DEM deputy Meral Danış Beştaş said Yüksekbağ had been “left to die” by authorities. “Mahsum Yüksekbağ, held at Erzurum Dumlu Prison, was taken to the hospital but sent back because he refused treatment while handcuffed. Doctors requested the handcuffs be removed because they couldn’t perform the procedure otherwise, but the officers refused. With narrowing in his brain vessels, Mahsum is at life-threatening risk if not urgently treated. This must be resolved immediately, and Mahsum must receive medical care without delay,”she tweeted on X.
Turkish authorities have frequently been criticized for their systematic disregard of the health needs of prisoners. Every year rights groups report the death of dozens of sick prisoners, either while behind bars or shortly after their release, which often comes at the end-stage of their illness. Turkey recorded 709 deaths in prison in the first 11 months of 2024, according to data from the Ministry of Justice shared in response to a parliamentary inquiry.
