A Turkish court in Ankara rejected an appeal for the release of Nuriye Gülmen, who has been detained for six months on a terror charge on Friday.
The 19th Heavy Penal Court in Ankara ruled that her detention be continued.
Gülmen, a literature professor, and Semih Özakça, a primary school teacher, launched their hunger strike on March 9, 2017 in protest at their dismissal from their jobs with state of emergency decrees introduced after last year’s controversial coup attempt.
The two educators were then arrested on terror charges on May 23 and have been continuing their hunger strike in prison. Özakça was released from jail on probation on Oct. 20, but Gülmen remains in jail.
Veli Saçılık, a Turkish leftist protester and a friend of Gülmen and Özakça, stated that Gülmen is just 37 kg and said that “It would actually explain everything. According to the information we received from the hospital authorities, bedsores have increased, and the injuries are not being healed… It seems that she will never be able to get back to her old health, unfortunately.”
“Nuriye’s height is the same size as mine, which is close to 1.80 m. And she is 37 kg. I think, a person having of 1,80 m height and 37 kg weight would actually explain everything,” said Saçılık during an interview to Artı Greek online news portal last week.
