Turkish woman returned to prison with newborn 4 days after birth


Date posted: May 28, 2019

Hatice Şahnaz, in pretrial detention on charges of alleged links to the Gülen movement, was put back behind bars in southern Turkey a few days after delivering a baby.

Her four-day-old newborn, Safiye, joined more than 700 children who Turkey is keeping in jail with their mothers.

Relevant laws on the execution of sentences prohibit courts from arresting mothers for six months following birth.

The prison authorities did not allow her to bring in bottles, blankets, a stroller, diapers or clothing for the infant, saying these items could be procured inside.

The young mother was detained in September 2018.

She was arrested over her alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, which Turkey blames for a failed coup in 2016 and outlaws as a terrorist group.

The group denies any involvement in the coup or terrorism.

A petition campaign for her release was launched on change.org.

Source: Turkish Minute , May 27, 2019


Related News

Dehumanize me Turkish-style — no comment

Following the Dec. 17 and 25 corruption investigations implicating Cabinet ministers and senior members of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his inner circle and pro-AK Party media have launched a concerted, collective and comprehensive dehumanization strategy against Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement. What follows is a snippet of the type of language used without comment, as comment is not needed.

A Year Ago Today: Teacher Gökhan Açıkkollu died of torture on his 13th day in police custody

Gökhan Açıkkollu, a history teacher suffering from diabetes, died of torture in police custody as part of a post-coup investigation into Turkey’s Gülen group. According to his father, Ayhan Açıkkollu, Gökhan was a diabetics patient while human rights defenders hinted at torture and maltreatment.

Test of Turkish society

Over the past 11 years, Turkey has been undergoing an important transformation. While it seems to defend secular and modern-looking Western lifestyles, it is trying to come out of the tangle of Kemalism, which is a regime disregarding democratic values of the West. Even if Kemalism had at first dreamed of establishing a real Western democracy, it was later defiled and turned into a hegemony of the elite.

Top judge, paralysed after cancer surgery, under arrest at hospital

A Supreme Court of Appeals member until he was dismissed, Mustafa Erdogan has been kept in a holding cell at a private hospital since Dec. 30, 2016. His daughter Buket Erdogan said the top judge was denied right to “trial without arrest” although he was paralysed after a surgery on his brain.

Turkey’s Unethical Interference in American (Muslim) Civic Society is Dangerous

The Erdogan government jails its citizens without due process, severely curtails freedom of speech by jailing journalists, and ignores the plight of vulnerable minorities. They are the least credible messengers to warn Americans about their civic duty. The Turkish Consulate’s attempt to use McCarthyite tactics to spread fear and unduly influence American civic life is simply abhorrent and deserves condemnation.

Hizmet, Erdoğan and the US

Today, the government resorts to irrational conspiracy theories in an effort to divert public attention from allegations of corruption. As a social movement that successfully promotes Turkey’s values in its schools in about 150 countries around the world, the Hizmet movement’s patriotism cannot be doubted

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

Pro-Rashid Dostum Afghan security forces raided Afghan-Turk Boys High School in Shibirghan

Int’l language festival students given high-level welcome in Australia

Post-Kemalist but still illiberal Turkey

Gülen condemns Paris shootings, says all forms of terror deplorable

Why did Turkey seize Bank Asya?

A new book: Fethullah Gulen and The Gulen Movement in 100 Questions

Ministry of Defense and Orizont High School to Cooperate in the Educational Area

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News