Coeliac patient prisoner Nesimi Kalkan, jailed in Mardin E Type prison, is being forced to pay for the diet meal he is provided with in jail.

Kalkan is jailed since he was arrested at the age of 18 and was sentenced to life sentence 23 years ago for allegedly being member of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party).  

In response to Kalkan's demand to get diet meal due to his disease, the prison administration told him that he had to pay for it, and that he would otherwise be denied meal.
Nesimi Kalkan called for support through his brother and TUHAD-DER Mardin Branch Chair Adil Başaran, and said that he would launch judicial process against the imposition of the prison administration.

Nesimi's elder brother Salih Kalkan said Nesimi had been transferred to many prisons throughout the country before he was taken to Mardin prison two years ago. Kalkan said his family paid for his brother's diet meal now.
"The state which deprived my brother of his freedom is now abusing his basic right by forcing him to pay for the meal. We are financially straitened and we therefore have difficulty in paying money to the prison administration which is subjecting prisoners to unlawful and inhuman treatments and trying their patience", Salih said.

TUHAD-DER Mardin Branch Chair Adil Başaran who has recently visited Nesimi Kalkan in prison quoted him as saying that; "I will not accept this. The administration of Mardin prison is not ending inhuman and unlawful treatments against prisoners but adding a new one to them every day. The society shouldn't remain silent in the face of these practices",
Başaran added that Nesimi would soon apply to IHD (Human Rights Association) and ask for legal assistance.