Human Rights Association: Ill Prisoner Baybars Awaits Surgery

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

In this week's "Freedom to Ill Prisoners" statement of the Human Rights Association (İHD) Adana Branch, the condition of ill prisoner Abdulkadir Baybars has been addressed and a request has been made to the authorities for the access of Baybars to medical treatment.

Ill inmate Baybars, who has been arrested in Osmaniye No. 2 Type T Prison for three years, has been held in a cell for the last seven years.

According to the statement made by the association, there is a shrapnel (shell fragment) near Baybars' heart and he has still not undergone the necessary surgical operation.

CLICK - Human Rights Association: 1154 Ill Prisoners, 402 in Serious Condition

The Prisons Commission of the İHD previously released a report and announced that as of March 2, 2018, there are 1,154 ill prisoners in Turkey's prisons, 402 of whom are in serious condition.

Ill prisoner held in a cell for seven months

The following information has been shared in the statement:

"Around 3 years ago, in the period when there were curfews in Şırnak and Nusaybin, Abdulkadir Baybars was wounded on his chest with a shrapnel, arrested and taken to the Osmaniye Prison while he was still injured.

"In our meetings with Baybars as the İHD committee, he told us that he was not taken to a hospital, forced to have medical treatment in handcuffs and since he did not accept this imposition, he was not provided with any medical examination or treatment.

"Though Baybars was told in the infirmary in Mardin that he needed to have a surgical operation as soon as possible, he stated that the prison administration in Osmaniye did not accept it.

"As stated by Baybars, his state of health has gradually deteriorated as the shell fragment near his heart has not been removed with a surgical operation. The İHD committee also observed that he has difficulties in breathing and is unable to use his left arm."

In it statement, the İHD has also indicated that Baybars was placed in a cell after he filed a complaint against the officers who battered him and added:

"We are calling the authorities to produce solutions so that ill prisoner Baybars, who cannot fulfil his needs by himself, could receive treatment in a hospital and have the necessary surgery as soon as possible." (AS/SD)