Turkish educators on hunger strike taken to hospital by 'force,' lawyer says

Imprisoned educators Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça were taken to Ankara's Sincan Prison Campus Hospital "by force" on the 143rd day of their hunger strikes early on July 29 although the authorities did not have their consent, the educators' lawyer Ebru Timtik said.

"It is an inhuman action to a tie a person to a stretcher by force and to wrap another in bed lining and take them to the hospital on the 143rd day of their hunger strike," Timtik said, who found out that what happened to the educators when she met with them the following day. 

Timtik told daily Hürriyet that Gülmen and Özakaça have been kept in the hospital since early on July 29, but as they still remained conscious, they did not allow any "physical intervention" by the hospital authorities. 

"The [hospital] committee says, 'The two people face the risk of death. They cannot stay on their own and in prison.' But the same committee also says, 'There is no need to suspend their arrest.' There is a very important strangeness of the law in sight. Since Nuriye and Semih are arrested, only a court can decide on their release," Timtik said.

"To decide when an arrest would be made is not the place of [the hospital committee], but it is the decision of the court. Tomorrow [On July 31], we will go to the court and show them the report. We will tell them, 'You are the only ones who have the authority to bring them outside. Do not let your right to do this be usurped by anyone.' We will remind the court of their responsibility," the lawyer noted.

On July 26, Gülmen and Özakça were medically examined at Ankara's Numune Training and Research Hospital at the request of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), before their health reports were sent to the Forensic Medicine...