The İzmir 2nd Execution Judgeship Court rejected Kurdish prisoner Mehmet Sait Yıldırım’s appeal against the prison’s Administrative and Monitoring Board’s decision to block his release for the third time. Despite spending 33 years in prison and being eligible for release since Feb. 27, 2025, the seriously ill 75-year-old will remain behind bars.
The initial prison board’s decision found that if Yıldırım were released he would likely continue his connection with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The decision was made in the period when the PKK had already made the decision to dissolve. Legal regulations regarding the process to terminate armed struggle were being implemented.
Additionally, the decision found that Yıldırım has no record of disciplinary punishment and complied with institutional rules.
The judgeship, in its decision dated September 3, 2026, concluded that "there was no aspect contrary to procedure and law" in the prison board's decision, thus rejecting Yıldırım’s appeal for release.
Yıldırım’s advocates have argued that the prisoner must be released on account of his poor health because he will not be able to access the consistent treatment he needs in prison.
Seriously ill prisoner Mehmet Sait Yıldırım suffers heart attack
After the particularly heated Aug. 25, 2026, board meeting in question, Yıldırım went back to his cell and had a heart attack later that day. In reaction to the event, the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) party submitted a question to parliament about his condition and the practices of the prison Administrative and Monitoring Board. This was the second time DEM has submitted a parliamentary question regarding Yıldırım’s case.
MP submits parliamentary question after Kurdish prisoner heart attack
Yıldırım suffers from a variety of conditions including heart disease, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arteriosclerosis, a cervical disc hernia, lung problems and has difficulty speaking. The severity of his conditions have made his case a major point of concern and sparked larger conversations surrounding subjective practices of Administrative and Monitoring Boards when it comes to delaying release.
The board has repeatedly justified the blocking of Yıldırım’s freedom on grounds of a lack of “good behavior” or “remorse” for his actions.
The repeated delays have effectively added a total of 21 months onto Yıldırım’s sentence.
Background
Yıldırım was detained in 1993 on allegations of being a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995. He has been imprisoned for about 33 years. During the failed Kurdish peace process between 2013 and 2015, he was among five prisoners selected at the request of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan to form a "secretariat" to be involved in the process. He spent nine days on İmralı Island, where Öcalan is held, before being transferred to another prison because of health problems. He later described the experience in his book “Nine Days on İmralı.” Yıldırım is currently held at İzmir Kırıklar No. 1 F-Type Prison.
(IK/HA)
