Mother of prisoner died days after being denied video call with daughter

The terminally ill mother of a Kurdish prisoner in Turkey died 10 days after the prisoner's request to make a video call to talk with her mother face to face one last time was rejected by the administration of Sincan prison.

Fatim Yilmaz, the mother of Zerrin Yilmaz who has been incarcerated for 18 years over "terror" charges, died on Sunday in Germany, Mezopotamya News Agency said. A funeral procession will be held in Turkey's Kurdish-majority district of Nusaybin on 6 December.

Although Zerrin Yilmaz had provided the prison administration with a report by a German doctor who stated clearly that her patient Fatim Yilmaz was in the end stage of her illness and that it was a matter of urgency that she was given the opportunity to bid farewell to her daughter, the request for a video call was rejected by the administration.

The administration said that "they cannot authorize a video call since Zerrin Yilmaz is serving a sentence of aggravated life imprisonment."

The right for the prisoners to make video calls was recognized in Turkey on 29 March 2020. However, according to the regulation, the applications of those prisoners who were convicted of "terror" or "organized crime" charges still need to be approved by prison monitoring committees.

Most of the political prisoners in Turkey are convicted of "terror" charges.