Political prisoner Aysel Dağlar faces a high risk of having a stroke because of the piece of shrapnel she has lodged in her head. The Turkish authorities do not allow Dağlar to have surgical treatment to remove it.
In 2018, a court sentenced Aysel Dağlar to life in prison on charges of “terrorism” and “disrupting the indivisible integrity of the state”.
Currently jailed in Van Type T Women’s Closed Prison, Dağlar carries shrapnel pieces in her skull and faces a high risk of having a stroke as the pieces may cause permanent damage to her brain. Aysel has also been suffering from a burst eardrum and a fractured ankle which were caused as a result of “torture” she was subjected to during the time she spent in detention in 2018, according to Jin News.
Aysel has only been able to meet her personal care needs with the help and solidarity of fellow inmates, yet the prison administration refuses to give Aysel access to a medical facility that is adequately equipped to provide her the medical help she needs nor will any Turkish judicial authority release her.
5-week ban on phone calls
Aysel’s mother Emine Dağlar told Jin News that on the grounds of the “pandemic”, the prison administration does not allow the families to visit their children for a year now.
“They have also introduced a five-week ban on phone calls. I could speak to my daughter on the phone only this week after five weeks,” Dağlar said.
‘Her eardrum was burst due to torture’
‘I am devestated knowing that my daughter needs medical treatment, yet she is jailed in prison,” Dağlar said as she emphasised that financial distress and Covid-19 pandemic hit prisoners’ families like themselve. Families who have been already suffering a great deal to be able to cover all the travel expenses to the prisons for a visit have lost all their chances to visit their loved ones in prisons after the Covid-19 hit Turkey.
“She has been suffering from great illnesses. Her eardrum was burst due to torture she was subjected to. She has serious problems in her legs and her eyes. She can barely stand up or walk,” Dağlar said.
Dağlar also shared the information that when Aysel was taken to the medical facilities in the prison, the doctor told her, ‘We have nothing to do for you’.
“All I want is, let my daughter be treated. She faces the risk of having a stroke if she is not treated. Let my daughter be released. Let her be treated in her own home at least,” her mother said.
