Merve Zayım, a teacher sentenced to 6 years and 3 months on charges the European Court of Human Rights has deemed unlawful in its Yalçınkaya v. Türkiye judgment, gave birth today after being taken from Edirne L-Type Prison to hospital under guard.

Zayım, 8.5 months pregnant with a high-risk pregnancy, had been detained since July 2025 despite Turkish law (Art. 16/4 of the Law on Execution of Sentences) requiring suspension of sentences for pregnant women until 18 months after childbirth. Her conviction was based solely on employment at a legally operating school later shut down by decree, alleged ByLock use, and witness statements—grounds explicitly ruled insufficient by the ECtHR.

Her case has been pending at the Court of Cassation for more than 40 months without a final decision, yet she was re-arrested for allegedly violating judicial control and denied release requests four times. Her husband previously spent nearly six years in prison, leaving their 8-year-old son now facing the same loss of his mother.

Human rights defenders warn that a newborn should not begin life under the shadow of prison bars and call for urgent action to ensure Merve Zayım’s release.