Under arrest for months, 62-year-old teacher dies of cancer in prison


Date posted: June 8, 2017

Arrested for raising donations on behalf of a Gülen movement-linked charity, 62-year-old religion and ethics teacher Hüseyin Pembe passed away after his battle with cancer in prison on June 1.

With the starting date for his imprisonment still unknown, Pembe has been under arrest in Samsun prison for at least four months.

According to Turkish media and several social media accounts, Pembe was diagnosed with cancer while he was under arrest over Gulen links. After a surgery at a hospital, he was reportedly sent back to the prison where his medical condition got worse under poor conditions and he passed away.

Pembe’s body was buried in his hometown in Kayseri province and his sister, also under arrest, was able to attend the ceremony only with gendarmeries in company, media reported.

Turkish government accuses the movement of masterminding the July 15, 2016 coup attempt and it has detained more than 120,000 people in its crackdown against the group so far.

Source: Turkey Purge , June 8, 2017


Related News

Turkey’s Real Coup [by Erdogan] Has Begun

Erdoğan is a dictator, but he might not have achieved his ambition absent Western naïveté. He and his supporters played American and European officials like a fiddle. He sought to disempower the Turkish military but couched his ambition to do so in the rhetoric of democratic reform.

Police raid business association in Malatya in new government-backed operation

Police teams entered and searched the premises of the Malatya Active Businessmen’s Association (MAKİAD) on Thursday in a new wave of government-led operations targeting institutions deemed to have an affiliation with the Gülen movement — a faith-based initiative inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

AK Party deputy Hakan Şükür against closure of prep schools

Former national team captain and current Justice and Development Party (AK Party) İstanbul deputy Hakan Şükür, referring to the government’s plan to shut down prep schools, has said it was wrong to vote “yes” on their closure before a process is carried out which eliminates the need for the schools.

I object to AK Party’s ‘New Turkey’

At this point, we need to state that the third term in office which the prime minister Erdogan refers to as the period of mastery appears to be a goal of converting society through a single cultural identity rather than a period of restoration that will strengthen social peace.

Twitter users protest plan to close prep schools in Turkey

Turkish Twitter users are in an uproar over a report that the government has drafted a law which would close thousands of private preparatory education centres (known as “dershanes”) across the country. The schools are reportedly a point of tension between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government and the Gülen movement that runs many of the schools.

Child of purged victim in Turkey says: I was 14 months old when my dad jailed

The child of a man who was arrested as part of a Turkish government crackdown on dissent following a failed coup last July said in a message on a piece of paper that “I was 14 months old when my father left.”

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

History of politically motivated assault on Bank Asya

Fethullah Gulen: “If the allegations are proved, I agree to return to Turkey”

Students of Turkish school in Iraq learn four languages

Alevi demands remain unfulfilled as their disappointment grows

Hizmet movement and military coups

UN demands access to 3 Turks forcibly returned from Malaysia

Needy Romanians provided with aid by students of Turkish school

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News