The release of seriously ill prisoner Mehmet Sait Yıldırım has been postponed for the third time by the Prison Administration and Observation Board. Following the board hearing, Yıldırım suffered a heart attack, underwent an angiogram, and had two stents fitted in his heart.
Held at İzmir Kırıklar No. 1 F-Type Closed Prison, Mehmet Sait Yıldırım (75), a seriously ill prisoner who has spent 33 years behind bars, has had his release blocked for a third time by the Prison Administration and Observation Board.
According to his lawyers, Yıldırım suffered a heart attack on August 24 after appearing before the Prison Administration and Observation Board. He was taken to hospital and yesterday (August 25) underwent an angiogram, during which two stents were placed in his heart.
According to bianet’s report, Yıldırım’s lawyers, Aryen Turan and Ali İhsan Güven, met with him for five minutes at around 4:40 p.m. today in the Coronary Intensive Care Unit on the 6th floor of İzmir City Hospital.
According to information conveyed to bianet by lawyer Ali İhsan Güven, Yıldırım appeared before the Administration and Observation Board at around 10:00 a.m. on August 24. Güven said the hearing was tense, adding that Yıldırım was once again pressured to “show remorse,” as in previous board hearings, and that an argument ensued.
Güven said that after Yıldırım returned to his cell he suffered a heart attack, and that he was transferred to hospital after his cellmate, Rohat Caruş, alerted prison staff.
According to Güven, Yıldırım was first taken to a hospital in Buca but, because it had no ward for prisoners, he was transferred to İzmir City Hospital. At around 11:00 a.m. yesterday he underwent an angiogram and had two stents fitted in his heart. According to bianet’s report, one of the main arteries leading to his heart was blocked, and Yıldırım narrowly survived a serious, life-threatening condition. Lawyer Güven said his health was now stable and that they had been told he could be discharged today.
According to his lawyers, Yıldırım’s release has been postponed for another three months.
Yıldırım: “Be honest and hang me”
Güven also told bianet that during the board hearing, Yıldırım had said the following:
The State Security Court sentenced me to death. It was commuted to life imprisonment. Now you, as the board, want to carry out the death sentence handed down by the State Security Court. Be honest, build a gallows here in the morning and hang me.
His release had already been postponed twice
Mehmet Sait Yıldırım was detained in 1993 on charges of PKK membership and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995. Suffering from cardiovascular disease, COPD, hypertension, and other chronic conditions, he is classified among the seriously ill prisoners, and despite his grave health problems he has remained in prison for 33 years.
During the 2013–2015 peace process, Yıldırım was part of a five-member group of prisoners formed at the request of Abdullah Öcalan and publicly known as the “İmralı secretariat.” Owing to his health problems, he stayed on İmralı Island for only nine days before being transferred to another prison. He later recounted his experiences in a book titled Nine Days on İmralı. He spent a significant part of his imprisonment in a single-person cell, held in isolation.
Although Mehmet Sait Yıldırım’s prison term ended on February 27, 2025, he was not released, with the Prison Administration and Observation Board citing that he was not of “good conduct” and “showed no remorse.” Reconvening on November 25, the board once again blocked his release. It set a date nine months later (August 25, 2026) for the next assessment.
After his release was postponed for a second time in November, Yıldırım gave the following statement to bianet through his lawyer Demirer:
“My death sentence, which I received in 1996, was commuted to life imprisonment. After 30 years, I should have been released by now, but they won’t let me go. My release is being postponed for a second time on the pretext that I am not of good conduct. I said it when I appeared before the board too, in effect, you want to carry out the death sentence. If you are so determined to apply the death penalty, be honest: take me out to the yard and hang me on the gallows. Let me know I was sentenced to death, and you, too, say it openly, ‘we executed him.’”
Ayşegül Doğan’s parliamentary question
DEM Party Şırnak MP and Party Spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan submitted a written parliamentary question to the Speaker’s Office on July 28, to be answered by Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, concerning prisoner Yıldırım, whose health has been steadily deteriorating.
In her applications and in the question submitted to Parliament, Doğan noted that Yıldırım, who has not been released even though his conditional release period expired months ago, suffers from numerous chronic illnesses including heart disease, COPD, hypertension, and lung ailments, and that a blood clot had formed in his right eye in early July. The question stated that Yıldırım had been subjected to a demand for examination while handcuffed during his transfer, that his treatment had been delayed, and that his vision problems were ongoing.
Doğan also applied to the Parliamentary Human Rights Inquiry Commission, requesting answers on whether Yıldırım’s release would be reassessed, whether an investigation had been launched into the alleged handcuffed examination during his hospital transfer, and the number of ill prisoners whose release has been postponed on “good conduct” grounds. She further called for an on-site review of Yıldırım’s health conditions, a determination of whether it is medically appropriate for him to remain in prison, and the assurance of uninterrupted access to health services.
