Under arrest in Kocaeli’s Gebze Women’s Prison, 26-year-old Zehra Epli set herself on fire in what other inmates say was a protest of the arrest of Kurdish politicians.
According to the T24 online news outlet, which cites the Evrensel newspaper as its source, Epli immolated herself in a prison bathroom. Fellow inmates from her holding cell told lawyer associations that Epli killed herself to protest a government crackdown against Kurdish politicians.
Meanwhile, pro-government news outlets said Epli died after she hanged herself from a headscarf in the bathroom.
Epli was under arrest on accusations of membership in the outlawed Kurdistans’ Workers Party (PKK).
Over the past week, Turkish courts arrested 10 pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies including the party’s Co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, who were detained last Friday following police raids on their homes. (Turkey Purge)
