MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed - In recent months, dozens of sick prisoners have lost their lives in Turkey’s prisons because they were denied medical treatment or their releases were postponed. While the relatives of sick prisoners have held “the Justice Watch protest” in Istanbul, Izmir, Van, and Amed to make the voices of sick prisoners heard, the number of sick prisoners is increasing every day. According to the 2021 report of the Human Rights Association (İHD), there are currently 1,605 sick prisoners in jail, 605 of them being seriously sick. 65-year-old Zekiye Tekin, diagnosed with colon cancer, is one of these sick prisoners. Zekiye Tekin has been held in prison despite her age and disease. She will reportedly start chemotherapy in prison.

Cancer has also spread to her internal organs!

Zekiye Tekin, who has been held in the Diyarbakır Women’s Closed Prison, was taken into custody while she was looking for her children during the protests that took place in 2012. Zekiye Tekin, who was prosecuted after being taken into custody, was sentenced to three years and three months in prison in 2021. She has been held in prison for six months. For six months, she has been frequently taken to the hospital and kept in quarantine many times. According to the reports we received, her lawyers have demanded her release many times but she hasn’t been released although cancer has also spread to her stomach and lungs.

She will start chemotherapy in prison 

According to the reports we received from her lawyers, Zekiye Tekin, who is expected to start chemotherapy in prison, was taken to Ankara for treatment but was brought back to prison without receiving any treatment. She has been reportedly kept in solitary confinement. Her lawyers demand the release of Zekiye Tekin to be treated at home.