87-year old prisoner gets 11-day solitary confinement for ‘hoping release one day’


Date posted: November 28, 2017

Ali Osman Karahan, an 87-year-old Turkish man who has been kept in an Isparta prison for almost 15 months over alleged links to Turkey’s Gülen group, was given 11-day solitary confinement for relieving other inmates by saying: “if you are not guilty, you will be released one day.”

“I can’t believe my eyes. They sentenced an 87-year-old arrestee to 11-day solitary confinement for ‘he declared his hopes for release.’ @abdulhamitgut, read out this ruling. Would your conscience agree on it? Unbelievable…” rights defender Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu tweeted, mentioning the Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül, on Monday.

Witnesses questioned before the decision said Karahan would tell other inmates: “I can’t predict what to come in the future. As Said Nursi put it, you will be released if you are not guilty.”

An investigation was launched against Karahan after he was reported to have told his family members during a closed prison visit that other inmates had been asking him to pray to God for their releases.

An advanced-stage prostate cancer patient who has only one kidney left, Karahan is a former disciple of the Ottoman-Kurdish scholar Said Nursi, the teachings of whom later inspired Turkey’s Gülen movement over the past years.

In its decision for the punishment, the Isparta E Type Prison’s disciplinary board said Karahan made propaganda for a criminal group.

Turkey experienced a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

The movement denies any involvement. However, the Turkish gov’t initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

More than 130,000 people have passed through police custody and 60,000 of them were remanded in prison like Karahan.

Karahan made it to the news last week as well after the government tried to transfer him to a prison in Afyonkarahisar, a province located some 100 km from Isparta.

 

Source: Turkey Purge , November 27, 2016

Tags: | |


Related News

Kalashnikov-carrying police raid Gülen-inspired private and prep schools based on ‘reasonable suspicion’

Police carrying Kalashnikov rifles and inspectors from a number of government bodies raided 14 private and prep schools in Mardin province on Tuesday based on “reasonable suspicion” that the schools are involved in tax fraud, a move that comes as part of the government-orchestrated operation targeting the faith-based Gülen movement, popularly known as the Hizmet movement.

PACE concerned over lack of domestic remedy for purge victims in Turkey

Two rapporteurs for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Wednesday expressed concern at the apparent lack of an effective domestic remedy for persons who have been dismissed from their jobs, arrested or detained by the Turkish authorities.

How can a government allow damaging their very own successful educational system to please another country?

Highly regarded for their educational excellence, these schools are located world-wide and have over 20 years offered the very best of competitive standards. How can any government allow damaging their very own successful educational system due to internal political turmoil of another country even if brotherly to Pakistan?

Enes Kanter: Anyone who speaks out against Erdogan is a target. That includes me.

The situation in Turkey has been very bad since a failed coup attempt in 2016. Erdogan unleashed a massive purge, firing more than 100,000 public-sector workers and imprisoning more than 50,000 people. These people are not criminals. They include judges, academics and journalists. Erdogan thinks free speech is dangerous, and he accuses critics of being terrorists.

International panel on Mary was held in Istanbul

An international panel, titled “Mary in the Holy Scripture and Qur’an,” was jointly held by the Journalists and Writers Foundation’s (GYV) Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADİP), the Tevere Institute and İzmir Intercultural Dialogue Center (İZDİM) at WoW Hotel in Istanbul. The two-day meeting was attended by a number of leading scholars and intellectuals of the field and focused on such topics as “Approaches to Mary,” “Debate on Mary,” “Mary Doctrine and its Historical Development.”

Five global challenges: how might Hizmet respond?

Hizmet, the social movement inspired by the neo-Sufi thinker Fetullah Gülen, is currently being dismembered by the autocratic president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He accuses Gülen of ordering a coup attempt on 15th July 2016, saying it was was led by Hizmet members in the army.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Kimse Yok Mu provides fast breaking meal to orphan students in Kenya

Is Hizmet being subjected to genocide?

Erdogan’s corruption defense falls flat

Unity in diversity

5,166 Turkish citizens sought asylum in Germany during January-November

TUSİAD chairman says does not see ‘parallel structure’ within state

594 Young Children Growing Up In Turkish Prisons

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News