Court arrests HDP MP Besime Konca on terror charges

BATMAN

A court in the southeastern province of Batman on May 29 ordered the arrest of Kurdish-issue focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Siirt lawmaker Besime Konca on terror charges, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Earlier in the day, Konca was detained at Batman Airport following a prosecutor’s detention warrant that came shortly after her release earlier this month.

Konca was previously arrested on Dec. 13, 2016 upon a prosecutor’s rejection of her initial release after she had been detained by police in the capital Ankara.

She was released on probation May 3 but the Batman 3rd High Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for her five days later.

The court ultimately ordered for Konca to be re-arrested on charges of “membership of an armed terror organization” and “engaging in terror propaganda,” the same as the previous accusations against her.

Some 10 lawmakers from the HDP, including its co-chairs Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ, were arrested on Nov. 4, 2016 and are currently in jail, facing hundreds of years inside for alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).