Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Defence John Brady TD has offered his sympathies to the family of Ebru Timtik.

The Kurdish human rights lawyer died on Thursday in a Turkish prison following a 238-day hunger strike. 

Speaking today, Teachta Brady said: “On behalf of Sinn Féin, I want to extend my sincere condolences to the family, friends and supporters of Ebru Timtik. She died for one simple demand – the right to a fair trial, which was denied to her by the Turkish state.

“A lawyer, she was also a member of the People’s Law Bureau. Ebru, along with 17 others, was imprisoned following a trial, which was riven with contradictory evidence, and that has raised serious questions within the international community.

“She is the fourth person from her trial to die on hunger strike this year. 

“Following her death, Ebru’s body was taken from Sadi Konuk hospital in the Bakırköy district of Istanbul to the Forensic Medicine Institute in Yenibosna where relatives, friends and supporters gathered to receive her remains.

“They were attacked and beaten by police officers, who then seized Ebru’s remains, and attempted to bury her away from the public eye. But despite being attacked by security forces, supporters marched to the cemetery where they took back Ebru’s remains in order to give her a fitting burial. 

“Ebru Timkit is the epitome of that prisoner who refuses to be broken, regardless of the array of weapons in the arsenal of their oppressor, forced to fight back with the only weapon that the truly dispossessed can draw upon, that of their own body.

“I salute the courage of Ebru Timtik and call upon the Irish government and international community to speak out on behalf of Aytaç Ünsal, Ebru’s co-accused and fellow hunger striker, who is now in a critical condition.”