Woman arrested for killing abusive husband

A woman in Turkey who killed her abusive husband in apparent self-defence has been arrested.

Melek İpek (31), the mother of two children, was raped and tortured in front of her daughters by her husband, Ramazan İpek (36), in the Döşemealti district of Antalya province in Turkey. She killed Ramazan, to whom she had been married for 12 years, with a rifle after he threatened to kill both her and her two children. Following the shooting, she called the police. When gendarmerie and medical teams arrived at the scene, they found Melek handcuffed and naked.

After being treated in the hospital she was taken to the court. Defending herself, Melek said “He threatened to kill me and my children, so I used a gun to protect us”. She also said that she does not know how the gun exploded, since she was trying to defend herself.

The court found her guilty, however, and she was arrested by the Criminal Court of Peace for killing her husband with a hunting rifle.

The arrest created a storm on social media and led to a campaign on Twitter with the hashtag #melekipekserbestbirakilsin (Melek İpek should be released).

Melek ölmemek için öldürmek zorunda kaldı. Eğer Melek, Ramazan’ı öldürmeseydi kendisi ve çocukları hayatta kalamayacaktı. Tek bir kadının daha şiddete maruz kalmaması için #MelekİpekDerhalSerbestBırakılsın pic.twitter.com/CwWljFrD8t

— Kadınlar Birlikte (@KBGuclu) January 9, 2021

Öz savunma haktır.#MelekİpekDerhalSerbestBırakılsın pic.twitter.com/MfHGq1QIVS

— 🇹🇷 sinem 🇹🇷📚⚓💙☕⛵🦅 (@drnfs0602) January 9, 2021

Women shared messages such as “Self-defence is a right” and “Melek İpek is innocent and should be released”.