An 80-year-old Kurdish couple, Makbule and Hadi Özer, has been sent to prison in Van province over alleged links to a “terrorist” organization.
According to Turkish journalist Sevinç Özarslan, the elderly couple was reportedly placed in a prison in Edremit district. They will spend some two weeks in solitary confinement as part of Covid-19 prison regulations in Turkey.
Following the court ruling, many human rights activists took to Twitter on Tuesday to criticize the Turkish government over the arrest of the couple on trumped-up charges.
According to the Mezopotamya news portal, the couple suffers from several aging-associated diseases, including hearing loss, hypertension, diabetes and hernia.
Burası, 80 yaşındaki Makbule Özer’in dün tutuklandığı adliye koridoru.
Sıra sıra oturanlara bakın: Yaşlılar, hastalar, başörtülü kadınlar… pic.twitter.com/jHCdxRm7eL
— Sevinç Özarslan (@sevincozarslan) May 10, 2022
Van'da dün tutuklanan Makbule teyze ile eşi Hadi Özer adliye kapısında… Bastonlu nine dün geceyi hapiste, karantina hücresinde geçirdi. Herkese günaydın. pic.twitter.com/VYGdqssDFg
— Sevinç Özarslan (@sevincozarslan) May 10, 2022