Abdulmenaf Osman, a 58-year-old man originally from Hasakah (Hesekê) in northern Syria, was released from a Turkish prison in Manisa on Sunday after serving a sentence of 30 years and 6 months. Although his family is resident in Turkey, Osman was taken directly to a gendarme station to the city’s repatriation centre.
Osman was arrested at the age of 28 on 3 March 1993 in Batman (Êlih) and sentenced to life imprisonment by the State Security Court accused of separatism. His release, initially scheduled for 3 March this year, was postponed by the prison’s Administrative and Monitoring Board for an additional 6 months because he refused to declare remorse.
Various organisations, including the Aegean Association for Assistance and Solidarity with Families of Prisoners and Convicts, the Association of Lawyers for Freedom and executives from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), had planned to meet Osman outside the prison. However, these plans were thwarted when Osman was taken to the gendarme station for deportation proceedings.
Osman’s family continues to wait outside the gendarme station, calling for him to be handed over to them without being deported. Osman, who is currently being held at the station, has not been allowed to see his family.
