Leyla Guven, a former opposition party lawmaker who was stripped of her parliamentary seat and legal immunities in June was sentenced Monday to 22 years and three months in prison on terrorism-related charges. She was convicted for membership of a terror group and disseminating terror propaganda, among other charges, by a Diyarbakir court that issued a warrant for her immediate arrest following a hearing Monday.
Guven, a former deputy of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), is among dozens of HDP deputies and members who have faced legal proceedings for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Guven has been a prominent figure in Kurdish political parties since 1994 and has worked to advance gender and democratic rights over the years.
Guven, who is the current co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress, was previously arrested in January 2018 for criticizing Turkish military operations against Kurdish militants in Syria.
In November of that year, she went on an 11-week hunger strike to protest the prison conditions of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and was eventually released in January 2019 after her health condition seriously deteriorated.
Erdogan's intimidation of political opponents has remained a source of tension between Ankara and Washington and raised grave concerns of rights organizations over human rights situation in Turkey.
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