Court lifts detention order of new mother jailed with baby over alleged Gülen links

ZONGULDAK

A 31-year-old woman was released from a jail in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak on May 16, one day after she was imprisoned together with her new born baby over alleged links to the Gülen movement, Doğan News Agency has reported. 

Upon a medical report stating that it has been only three days since she gave a birth to baby boy, the court lifted Aysun Aydemir’s detention order and ordered that she be released from the prison in Zonguldak under judicial control. 

Aydemir was jailed on May 15 after being sought by the police as part of an investigation launched by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Mediterranean province of Mersin. 

A former English teacher, she was found to have been a user of the ByLock smartphone mobile application, considered to be a key means of communication used almost exclusively by members of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

Aydemir reportedly checked into a private hospital on May 13 in Zonguldak’s Ereğli district after going into labor, giving birth to a baby boy on the same day. 

During the registration procedures, hospital officials realized that police had issued an arrest warrant for Aydemir. After she was discharged from hospital on May 15, she was then detained by police teams, who took her to a local court.

Aydemir appeared in the trial through the voice and video informatics system (SEGBİS) and used her right to remain silent. After the court ordered that she be jailed together with her baby, they were taken to the Ereğli State Hospital for a health check-up and later sent to a prison in Zonguldak. 

Her husband, Murat Aydemir, also a teacher, is being sought by police on the same allegations. The pair were allegedly brought together to marry under the auspices of FETÖ, with Murat allegedly selecting Aysun as his wife from a catalogue consisting of pictures of female FETÖ affiliates. 

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu condemned Aydemir’s detention on May 15 by posting a picture of the new mother in a hospital bed together with her infant on his Twitter account.

“Is this your justice?” Tanrıkulu wrote, mentioning Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ in his tweet and calling on him to take action.