TURKEY’S opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has condemned the “illegal decision” to jail former Nusaybin mayor Sara Kaya for 16 years on trumped-up terrorism charges by a Mardin court on Monday.

It warned of a “political genocide” being waged against the party but refused to be bowed by the latest attack, saying that those who think that they can crush the HDP by jailing members and officials will fail.

Ms Kaya was handed the heavy sentence after being charged with “disrupting the unity of the state” and being “a member of an illegal organisation,” namely the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

She has been imprisoned since she was detained in a raid on her home in January 2017 and was replaced as mayor by a government-appointed trustee.

HDP co-vice-president and legal spokesman Umit Dede warned that the case was another instance of the Turkish state targeting women for severe punishment to deter them from being involved in political life.

He said that the file used to jail Ms Kaya was “full of fabricated allegations and evidence” and had been prepared by the notorious Nusyabin TEM (anti-terror unit) chief Unal Uyar.

Mr Uyar was himself sentenced to 22 years in prison yesterday for “torture and plunder” in a wide-ranging case involving police and security officials in the Mardin district.

In an astonishing decision, he was freed, despite the sentence and the serious nature of the charges he was found guilty of, on the same day Ms Kaya was taken to a high-security prison.

Mr Dede said that it was evident that that the judiciary was working with the Turkish state with “a great anger to punish and jail female mayors” as part of an attack on the role of women in the HDP and, in particular, its co-chair system.

This allows for sex equality in all ranks of the party, with a woman and man sharing every elected position equally.

Authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice & Development Party (AKP) has ruled the co-chair system “a terrorist act.”

According to him, elected women have, in fact, been appointed by the PKK.

Since local elections last March, 51 of the 65 municipalities won by the HDP have been taken over by government appointees and 22 of the party’s mayors imprisoned.

The jailing of Ms Kaya comes days after the HDP concluded its democracy march, which arrived in the capital Ankara on Saturday.

Speaking to the HDP parliamentary group yesterday, co-chair Mithat Sancar said: “We still walked. Because it is necessary to overcome the wall of fear. Without the wall of fear, there is no right, no law, no freedom, no dignity.”

Supporters are encouraged to write to Ms Kaya. Her address is: Sara Kaya, Tarsus T Tipi Kadin Kapali Cezaevi, Mersin, Turkey.