Court Rejects Appeal of Terminally Ill Inmate Yıldırım, Who Completed 30-Year Sentence

Mehmet Sait Yıldırım, a terminally ill inmate whose conditional release period ended on February 27, 2024, failed to obtain relief when challenging the Prison Management and Observation Board's third postponement decision at Izmir Kırıklar No. 1 High-Security Prison. According to Bianet, Izmir's 2nd Execution Court found no legal violation in the postponement decision, and the Izmir 1st Heavy Criminal Court, which reviewed the objection, ruled that there was no procedural or legal breach in the decision. Although Yıldırım had no disciplinary sanctions in prison records and was noted to have complied with institutional rules, his release was previously postponed first on grounds that he was "not of good conduct" and then that he showed "no remorse." The Management and Observation Board cited for the third time its belief that Yıldırım would "maintain ties with the organization" as justification.

Yıldırım's attorney, Fatma Demirer, announced that the decision would be taken to the Constitutional Court. In the previous postponement, Yıldırım was handed an additional nine months in prison; after the second postponement on November 25, 2024, the process reached its third stage.

Turkey's execution law allows the Management and Observation Board to postpone decisions on conditional release; however, human rights organizations have long documented that this authority is applied disproportionately against terminally ill prisoners.