Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and human rights defender Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu on Wednesday reported another human rights violation in Turkey, saying that a woman with a 45-day-old baby has been arrested and jailed with her baby.
Gergerlioğlu was referring to Sümeyra Gökhan, a new mother who has been in detention in Izmir as part of Turkey’s relentless witch-hunt in the aftermath of a July 2016 coup attempt.
“I would hope the mother of a 45-day-old infant would be tried without being detained and that the judiciary would not add another unlawful act to its record,” Gergerlioğlu had tweeted on Tuesday in an attempt to direct attention to similar cases in the country.
The deputy urged judges and prosecutors to obey the law and avoid the politicization of judicial decisions. However, on Wednesday he announced the arrest underlining that it is a major rights violation.
In Turkey, although the law requires that women with small children stand trial while free on bail, more than 700 women with young children are currently in jail on “coup” charges.
The majority of these women are in pre-trial detention due to their real or perceived links to the faith-based Gülen movement.
Meanwhile, state-run TV station TRT 1 reported that the parent of three small children was detained for allegedly dealing drugs by police in the Sarıyer district of İstanbul last Sunday. The court arrested the father, but the mother was released on probation on the grounds that children need their mother. (SCF with turkishminute.com)
