JINHA

ISTANBUL – Doctors say that Kurdish prisoner Fatma Tokmak is facing heart failure, while Turkish authorities still refuse to allow her to be hospitalized for treatment.

Fatma Tokmak was first imprisoned during a house raid on a house where she was a guest during Northern Kurdistan's violent 1990s. The main evidence against her is a statement in Turkish that she signed after torture and was unable to read, as she only speaks Kurdish. Fatma developed heart problems in prison, likely related to the stress of being tortured along with her son, who was a small child at the time. Doctors repeatedly issued reports saying that continued imprisonment and lack of treatment for her deteriorating health problems was a death sentence for Fatma.

Fatma, who had to be hospitalized recently, was seen at the Mehmet Akif Ersoy State Hospital cardiology unit. Doctors confirmed that the lack of treatment has started a process of calcification in Fatma's heart, but prison administrators continue citing "security reasons" for refusing her treatment. Fatma's son, Azad Tokmak, says his mother is only able to stay alive with six shots per day and needs to be in the hospital on a daily basis. However, the prison has told Fatma that she cannot be hospitalized for more than five days "for security reasons."

Fatma's nephew Übeyt Çevik noted that the prison administration had claimed in the past that Fatma's medical report had been "lost," then produced other, false reports.

"Until now, it's been made into a topic of bargaining. There is bargaining and arbitrary treatment going on over a human life," said Übeyt. "We don't want a coffin to come out of that prison. We want our loved ones by our side, even if only for their last moments."

(mı/dk/fk/cm)