Istanbul police once again broke up a vigil of political prisoners' relatives in front of the Çağlayan Palace of Justice and forcibly detained three women. The "Justice Vigil" is held every Thursday to demand the release of those who are seriously ill and still imprisoned because they have not repented despite completing their sentences. Most of the participants are mothers fighting for the lives of their imprisoned children. Again today, three mothers were attacked by a huge police force and they responded with the Kurdish slogan "Bijî berxwedana zindana" ("Long live the resistance in prison").

Before the police attack, one of the women tried to explain her concern to the officer-in-charge: "Our children are sick and are not taken to the doctor. They are subjected to cruel oppression every day." The police officer responded, "Because of your children, our children are in the grave."

HDP MP Züleyha Gülüm, who accompanies the protest action almost every Thursday in solidarity, protested against the action and criticised the ban on assembly imposed by the authorities as arbitrary and unlawful: "In what way is public security threatened when four mothers make a statement here? How is this supposed to create a health problem? While other rallies are allowed here, why are these mothers a problem? Obviously, the public is not supposed to know about the conditions in the prison. Yet these crimes are well known. It is known that people are tortured and driven to suicide in prison, that a razor blade is held in front of prisoners' noses so that they commit suicide, that the sick are not treated and left to die. Even cancer patients are not treated."

Prisons have become an instrument to silence society in Turkey, said Züleyha Gülüm, adding, "If you raise your voice, you go to prison and there is no guarantee that you will come out alive."