HUNGER-STRIKING lawyer Ebru Timtik is reported to be seriously unwell, with her weight having plummeting to less than 43 kilos after more than 200 days without food in a Turkish prison.

She is having difficulty speaking due to the effects of her death fast in protest at being denied a fair trial.

Concerns have also been raised for Aytac Unsal, who has been on hunger strike for 176 days in a quest for justice for the “people’s lawyers.”

Sources told the Morning Star yesterday that the pair are prepared to die in a struggle that is “not just about them, but is a resistance for all the oppressed people in the world.”

They fear that Ms Timtik could indeed lose her life and urged the international community to “grow the scream for justice and let the people’s lawyers live,” adding: “We will win through resistance.”

Ms Timtik was sentenced to 13-and-a-half years in prison and fellow hunger striker Mr Unsal was jailed for 10 years following a deeply flawed and highly politicised trial in March 2019.

They are members of the People’s Law Association but are deemed terrorists and supporters of the banned People’s Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C).

During the trial, they were accused of “communicating the organisation’s [DHKP/C] messages to captured members and acting as couriers.”

The convictions were welcomed by Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who insisted that the defendants were the “pillar of the DHKP/C” and that their imprisonment had helped to neutralise the organisation.

The pair are demanding a retrial, maintaining that their convictions were based on evidence supplied by anonymous witnesses and an unreliable state informant.

Their cases are currently before Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals. But last week the presidents of nine bar associations demanded their immediate release, warning that the case was proceeding too slowly.

Izmir Bar Association president Ozkan Yucel said in a video message on Thursday: “To those who are keeping their files at the Supreme Court of Appeals for a long time, don’t you realise Ebru and Aytac are dying?”

Grup Yorum bassist Ibrahim Gokcek died in May, two days after suspending his hunger strike against Turkish state oppression.

His death followed those of bandmate Helin Bolek and of Mustafa Kocak in April. All had been accused of DHKP/C membership.

Letters can be sent to: Aytac Unsal, No 1 F-Type Prison, Burhaniye, Balikesir, Turkey, and Ebru Timtik, Silivri Prison, Istanbul, Turkey.

A petition has been launched at [email protected] supporting their demand for a fair trial.