The Administrative and Observation Board rejected the appeal against the 9-month postponement of the release of 30-year ill prisoner Mehmet Sait Yıldırım, 73, in Izmir Kırıklar Type F Closed Prison No1. The Administrative and Observation Board postponed the release of Yıldırım, who was supposed to be released on 27 February, to 27 December 2024 on the grounds that he is "not in good behaviour" and has "no remorse". The objection filed by Yıldırım's lawyers was rejected by Izmir 4th Execution Judgeship on the grounds that the decision was appropriate. 

 

In the rejection decision, Yıldırım's meetings and the letters he received and sent were evaluated as "continuing his organizational activities". The execution judge's other grounds for rejection were Yıldırım's "lack of remorse" and "lack of a sincere declaration and active effort to leave the organisation".

 

The lawyers appealed to a higher court and filed an appeal to the High Criminal Court. Petitions demanding release were also sent to the Human Rights Commission of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the Presidency of the Parliament and the General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses. Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party MP Nevroz Uysal also submitted a parliamentary question on the postponement of Yıldırım's release.

 

'BASED ON ARBITRARY THINKING'

 

In the application to the High Criminal Court, it was emphasised that the decision of the The Administrative and Observation Board is arbitrary and contrary to the law and the law. In the application, it was mentioned that Yıldırım's meetings and letters with his interviewees were used as justification for the rejection decision, and it was stated that no administrative action had been taken against Yıldırım until today, and that a postponement decision was made based on arbitrary considerations without any concrete evidence. The application requested that the decision to postpone Yıldırım's release be cancelled.