The release of Mehmet Ali Taşlı (58), who has been in prison for 30 years in Konya's Ereğli High Security Prison, was postponed for another 12 months.

Taşlı was detained and arrested in Amed in 1994, and was sentenced to life imprisonment by the State Security Court (DGM). Taşlı was held in Konya Ereğli High Security Prison and was expected to be released on 21 December, but his release was postponed for one year following a decision of the Prison Administration and Observation Board.

Speaking to the Kurdish-language news agency Ajansa Welat, Mehmet Ali Taşlı's sister Gül Taşlı said that her brother had spoken to them on the phone on 18 December. She said: "We were getting ready to receive him. But, unfortunately, he called again on Wednesday and said that his sentence had been extended by one year.

My father waited for my brother's release, counting the minutes and seconds. We were waiting anxiously, they broke our hopes. We have been waiting for thirty years."

Appeal filed

Gül Taşlı said that her mother died longing to see her son and added: "My mother died longing to see her son. My father is old and ill. We thought maybe he would go out and spend some time with him. That didn't happen either. We know that oppression is injustice. The lawyer filed a petition appealing the decision. We want the authorities to take this objection into consideration. Prisoners who have completed their sentence should be released."