Woman who suffered brain hemorrhage in police detention handcuffed to hospital bed

A female detainee who suffered a brain hemorrhage in detention and was unable to move was handcuffed by police to her hospital bed, the TR724 news website reported.

Gülsüm Dinçer, 48, and her husband were detained in Istanbul on August 13 on accusations of membership in the Gülen movement, a faith-based dissident group that has long been targeted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

After three days of detention in Istanbul, they were scheduled to be taken to the easternmost city of Van for further questioning. However, Gülsüm Dinçer experienced severe headaches in detention. Later, it turned out that she was having a brain hemorrhage and was taken to the hospital.

Although Dinçer could not move due to the hemorrhage, the police handcuffed her to the railings of her hospital bed, with two police officers posted outside her door round the clock. The police stated that Dinçer would be transported to Van, where she would be questioned, upon her release from the hospital.

The couple has an 8-year-old daughter who is now staying with relatives.

Gülsüm Dinçer’s brother, Melik Sayın, tweeted: “My sister was detained in Istanbul to be taken to Van for questioning. However, she suffered a brain hemorrhage and is now in the hospital. The police handcuffed her to the bed. Two policemen are posted outside her door. They said they would take her to Van once she is released. Leave innocent people alone!”

Sayın later tweeted that the doctors found defective tissue in Dinçer’s brain. “They have released my sister from the hospital, and now she is now on her way to Van.” Dinçer’s family is asking human rights activists to make her case heard.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has launched a relentless crackdown on members of the Gülen movement, led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Erdoğan accuses of orchestrating an abortive coup in July 2016, an accusation strongly denied by Gülen.

Designating the movement as a terrorist organization prior to the coup attempt, the Turkish government dismissed more than 150,000 civil servants from state jobs and investigated almost 600,000 people, detaining or arresting half of them on trumped-up terrorism-related charges as part of a sustained post-coup purge.

The post-coup purge has left many children parentless after both of their parents have been imprisoned.

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