URGENT: Health situation of hunger strikers is detoriating

Health situation of SERKAN ONUR YILMAZ:

During a visit by his lawyer Serkan Onur Yilmaz said that

• he was experiencing a lot of pain,

• he had difficulty sleeping and sometimes had difficulty breathing.

• he could no longer walk and that his knees were giving way and had to use a wheelchair.

Deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioglu who visited Serkan Onur Yilmaz on his 278th day of death fast reported:

“He had become very thin. He had brown rashes on his skin, which was dry. He couldn’t sleep at night and had severe muscle pain, so his friends gave him massages...”

Nurettin Kaya, a prisoner who has been on a death fast as well and was fulfilled his demand, gave following news about the health of Serkan Onur Yilmaz:

• He’s got severe pain and burning in the feet, also present in the hands…

• There is something in his throat, he doesn’t know exactly what, but he sometimes has difficulty swallowing and breathing…
• Recently he had diarrhoea
• While sleeping, he started having breathing problems. According to his friends, he was breathing very rapidly while asleep. Sometimes it’s very slow.
• He has had heartburn, pain and cramps in his stomach for several days.
• He’s got heart palpitations.
• He has numbness in his left arm
• He has a persistent pain in his legs, and his friends are trying to ease it by rubbing ice on them.

One of his lawyers also warned: “The current stage means that the client could lose his life at any moment due to a heart attack and organ failure caused by starvation.”

Health situation of ALI ARACI:

• He has lost a lot of weight and now weighs only 42 kilograms.

• He stated that he had difficulty breathing and felt pain because his ribs had been broken during previous torture.

• He suffers from muscle pain and physiological discomfort caused by immobility.

On August 15, 2025 his sister Seval Araci, who has been imprisoned at Marmara Closed Prison, Silivri, has also started an indefinite hunger strike to support her brother’s demands.