DİYARBAKIR - Semra Özkan who visited his father Mehmet Emin Özkan in prison yesterday sad her father is detoriorating day by day and told that he was hospitalised twice in two weeks.

 

Mehmet Emin Özkan, who was detained in Mersin in 1996 on charges of "being a member of a terrorist organisation" upon the statements of two confessors and was later arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment, has been in prison for 26 years. Seriously ill prisoner Özkan had a heart attack 5 times in prison. He was not released even though he suffered from serious health problems like blood pressure, toxic goiter, osteoporosis, hearing and vision deficiency and memory loss. Özkan, who cannot maintain his life alone, is accompanied by his son Ahmet Özkan, who is being held in the same ward.

 

Semra Özkan, who gave information about her father's health status after visiting her father, Mehmet Emin Özkan in prison 2 days ago, informed that her father was hospitalised twice in the last 2 weeks and that her medications were changed as a result of the tests.

 

MY FATHER IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION

 

Explaining that her father was brought to the visiting room with a wheelchair and that he was able to sit on the chair with the support of her son Ahmet Özkan, Semra Özkan said, “My father is having a hard time moving. We just stared at each other. He is wasting away day by day. My brother is with him all day and night to watch him. I can say that he is in his death bed."

 

REPORT SAYS HE CAN NOT REMAIN IN PRISON

 

Semra Özkan reminded of the Gazi Yaşargil Training and Research Hospital Health Board's report about her father 7 years ago saying "he cannot remain in prison" and said that despite these reports, nothing has changed and his father has not been released. Despite his father's worsening condition, Semra Özkan stated that the Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) insists on giving reports that say he can maintain his life in prison.