Rejecting Medical Intervention, Leyla Güven on Hunger Strike Discharged from Hospital

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Hakkari MP and Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-Chair Leyla Güven, who has been on a hunger strike with the demand that the isolation on Kurdistan Workers Party's (PKK) imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan be lifted, has been taken to hospital after her health condition has deteriorated.

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency, the members of the International Peace Delegation visited Güven at her house in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır. While they were about to make a statement for the press in front of the house, Leyla Güven felt faint, stating that she had pain in her chest. She was taken to a private hospital in an ambulance.

While it has been reported that Güven has not lost her consciousness, she has not accepted medical intervention and been taken to the intensive care unit of the hospital. Her cardiac rhythms are being regularly checked.

"Don't let my mother die"

Posting a statement on Twitter, her daughter Sabiha Temizkan has said,

"My mother #LeylaGüven has felt faint on the 98th day of her hunger strike. We are in hospital, she doesn't accept intervention. She is in intensive care now and they can only check her cardiac rhythm. My mother says she want to go home despite her serious condition. Please don't let her die! Please!"

Rejecting treatment, Güven discharged from hospital

Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chair Mehmet Ali Arslan has made a statement for the press in front of the hospital and announced that Güven indicated it in a written statement that she does not accept medical treatment. Indicating that she felt uncomfortable with being hospitalized, Arslan has announced that Güven has been discharged from hospital.

What happened?

Leyla Güven, the Co-Chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), who was elected as the Hakkari MP of the HDP on June 24, was taken into custody in a raid conducted to her house on January 22, 2018.

Güven, who was arrested due to her statements regarding the Afrin operation, has been facing charges due to the statements for press and events that she attended and the statements that she made.

After being held in custody for nine days, she was arrested by the Diyarbakır 9th Heavy Penal Court on January 31, 2018.

A verdict of release was issued for her upon the application submitted to the court shortly after she was elected an MP. However, upon the objection of the Prosecutor's Office, the court again ruled that her arrest shall continue.

Leyla Güven was released from prison on January 25, 2019.

Going on a hunger strike in Diyarbakır Prison, she has been on a hunger strike for 98 days as of today. (HA/SD)