Thousands of women from all around the world joined in solidarity to sign an appeal that called for the immediate release of prominent Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk who has been incarcerated in Turkey since December 2016 and who is suffering from an illness that requires her to be attended to and treated at home.
The appeal that was posted on the internet on Saturday with signatures of a thousand women including many from France, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, has been signed by a total of more than 5,500 women in just four days.
The statement for the appeal says:
“Aysel Tuğluk faced court for speeches she made as an MP, for having exercised her right to freedom of thought and speech. She has been in prison for years now. Despite reports by authorised health institutions which concluded months ago that she should not live in prison conditions, she has been kept in prison because of a opposing report by the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute. As she can not be properly treated in prison, her health continues to deteriorate irreversibly.
Comrades and sisters of Aysel…
We can not remain silent as Aysel’s life is put at risk. We can not just watch this happen.
We, as a thousand women from all fields of life and struggle, urge everyone to react for Aysel. We don’t want to be intervening too late. We don’t want to shed tears.
There are currently hundreds of ill prisoners, some of them in critical conditions. Only last month, seven prisoners died. The release of ill prisoners are required by national and international laws and conventions. Everyone has the right to live and be treated among loved ones at home. We stand up for the right to live.
We want freedom for Aysel Tuğluk and all ill prisoners before it’s too late.”
