Cameroonian woman dies at İzmir repatriation center after being refused treatment

İsmail Saymaz ISTANBUL

Amina Tou Cady had applied to be allowed to remain in Turkey, but she was nevertheless apprehended in August 2014 by police before being placed in detention.

A Cameroonian refugee that recently gave birth in captivity died late Dec. 30 at a processing center in İzmir after being forced to reside in difficult conditions despite serious health issues, according to lawyers.

“Because several people being held in jails, observation centers and repatriation centers are not sent to hospital [when necessary], they are dying and being killed. Those that shot dead [Nigerian migrant] Festus Okey killed Amina by keeping her in the basement of the repatriation center and not treating her despite her serious illness,” the Contemporary Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD) said in a statement.

Amina Tou Cady had applied to be allowed to remain in Turkey, but she was nevertheless apprehended in August 2014 by police before being placed in detention.

Officials soon determined that Cady was pregnant, but the woman was forced to remain in the basement of İzmir’s repatriation center instead of being held in a hospital following her pregnancy.

The health of the woman, who was suffering from tuberculosis and was also carrying HIV, subsequently deteriorated in the intervening months.

A delegation from the ÇHD recently visited Cady at the facility and demanded that she immediately be transported to hospital after they learned that she could not speak and observed saliva drooling out of her mouth.

“She’s just acting like she’s sick; there’s no need to take her to hospital,” lawyer Emine Sarı quoted officials at the center as saying.

Cady was finally taken to hospital around three weeks ago, but succumbed due to the advanced stage of her illness.