ISTANBUL- Seher Dursun, the lawyer of 30-year prisoner Elif Yaş, announced that her release was postponed for 6 months due to her negative answer to the question “Have you ever thought of moving to an independent ward?” by the Administration and Observation Board. 

 

Initiative for Solidarity with Prisoners held a press conference at the Human Rights Association (IHD) Istanbul Branch building in Beyoğlu, Istanbul regarding the 6-month postponement of the execution of Elif Yaş.

 

Elif Yaş was arrested in 1994 and has been imprisoned in Bakırköy Women's Closed Prison for 30 years. The meeting was attended by Yaş's lawyer Seher Dursun, Ali Ekber Sever and Ergin Çiçek, who were released after 30 years of imprisonment.

 

Speaking first at the meeting, lawyer Seher Dursun stated that Yaş's execution was postponed for 6 months because she refused to accept the “remorse” imposition. Dursun said that almost all of the political prisoners in Bakırköy Women's Closed Prison were executed and noted that these practices are applied to all political prisoners in Turkey. “Prisoners are asked whether they regret it or not, why they stay in organized wards. The only question Elif was asked was, 'Have you never thought about moving to an independent ward? Elif said 'No, I never thought about it'. That's why she will stay in prison for another 6 months,” she said.  

 

Stating that the committees started to be effective after the pandemic and that the only legal expert here was the prison prosecutor, Dursun pointed out that the other members of the committee were staff members and emphasized that enemy law was applied in the committees. 

 

Ali Ekber Sever and Ergin Çiçek, who were released after 30 years in prison, said that the practices were arbitrary and would not work.