Meral Danış Beştaş Arrested

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Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Adana MP Meral Danış Beştaş has been arrested.

Being released on probation after she was detained on January 27 as part of the same investigation, Danış-Beştaş was taken into custody again upon Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office’s objection. Danış Beştaş was arrested on charge of “Being a member of an [illegal] organization”.

According to Evrensel newspaper citing Dihaber, Danış-Beştaş was arrested due to her three tweets she posted on an HDP Twitter account during Kobanê protests from October 6-8, 2014.

11 of 59 HDP MPs arrested

HDP Co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, Şırnak MPs Ferhat Encü, Leyla Birlik, Hakkari MPs Selma Irmak, Abdullah Zeydan, Diyarbakır MPs İdris Baluken, Nursel Aydoğan, Ziya Pir, İmam Taşçıer, Ankara MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Mardin MP Gülser Yıldırım were taken into custody on November 4. Yüksekdağ, Demirtaş, Baluken, Birlik, Irmak, Aydoğan, Yıldırım, Zeydan and Encü were arrested on the same day.

Pir, Taşçıer and Önder were later released on probation.

HDP Hakkari MP Akdoğan was arrested on November 7.

HDP Group Deputy Chair Çağlar Demirel and HDP Siirt MP Besime Konca were arrested on December 13, which increased the number of arrested HDP MPs to 12.

HDP İstanbul MP Filiz Kerestecioğlu and HDP Muş MP Ahmet Yıldırım were replaced for the arrested group deputy chairs.

Şırnak MP Leyla Birlik was released on January 4, 2017.

Baluken was discharged on January 30, 2017.

With Danış-Beştaş’s arrest, 11 HDP MPs remain behind bars. (EKN/TK)