The lawyer Sezai Akın announced that his client, Mehmet Sait Yardımcı, was tortured in custody. Yardımcı is being held by Urfa’s Anti-Terror Branch (TEM) in Turkey.
Hamdullah Esen, Tayip Temel and Mehmet Sait Yardımcı were detained after their house was raided on 4 September in the Viranşehir district of Urfa. The reason provided was that they were “aiding an organization” and “being a member of that organization”. It has been reported that Esen, Temel and Yardımcı were tortured in the TEM Branch Directorate where they were held.
Akın stated that his client, Yardımcı, confirmed that he was tortured in custody. During his meeting with Yardımcı, Akın observed that he was exhausted and had blood stains and bruises on certain parts of his body and his clothes were torn.
Akın said that meetings with his client were constantly being delayed and it was hours before he could see him. Akın also confirmed that his client stated that they (i.e., the three detainees) were taken at some point to a hospital. The doctor who came to examine them looked at them from twenty metres away and wrote his report about their state of health in this questionable manner.
It was also revealed that the lawyers of his detained house-mates, Hamdullah Esen and Tayip Temel, are still not permitted to meet with their clients.
