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The Turkish authorities continue to keep Mehmet Emin Özkan behind bars despite the 85-year-old’s worsening health, Yeni Yaşam newspaper reported on Thursday.
The man has been hospitalised twice in the last 15 days, his daughter told Yeni Yaşam. “These are my father’s last days.”
Özkan was sentenced to life in prison for the 1993 assassination of Turkish general Bahtiyar Aydın, and an arson attack in Diyarbakır’s Lice district, upon testimony from two informants. Evidence later emerged pointing to Turkish soldiers as the arsonists, and the Turkish counterterrorism organisation JİTEM as the assassins, but Özkan’s name was never cleared. The informants also later denounced their original testimony.
During his 26 year stay behind bars in Diyarbakır (Amed), Özkan suffered five heart attacks and has been diagnosed with hypertension, goitre, osteoporosis, hearing and vision loss, and memory loss. He also caught COVID-19 last year. Özkan’s son Ahmet Özkan, serving time in the same prison, is his primary caregiver.
Daughter Semra Özkan told Yeni Yaşam that the elderly man had been issued a report by a university hospital in Diyarbakır that he could not meet his healthcare needs behind bars seven years ago, but the family’s efforts to have him released have not panned out. One report says the man is now 87 percent disabled.
According to his daughter, Özkan can no longer recognise any of his visitors or communicate with them. Despite his advanced conditions, he is handcuffed to the bed during hospital visits, she said.
Health problems among inmates, especially political prisoners in Turkey’s jails, has been on the rise, according to the Human Rights Association (İHD). At least 46 inmates lost their lives in 2021. There are still at least 1,517 prisoners with serious health conditions behind bars as of April 2022.
