Two Turkish doctors who went to aid of protesters are sentenced to prison.

Two doctors who gave first aid to people injured during the Gezi Park demonstrations in Istanbul in 2013 have been given a 10 month prison sentence by a Turkish court. The convictions of Yasemin Erenç and Sercan Yüksel for “denigrating a mosque” while delivering healthcare services have been condemned by human rights organisations and the World Medical Association. The doctors are currently not in prison and are expected to appeal the sentences. The charges against themwere brought in an action against 255 people caught up in the 2013 Gezi Park protests. The protests began in late May 2013 against plans to build a shopping centre on the central park, one of the few green spaces left in the city’s Taksim neighbourhood, and spread across the country. Defendants were charged with various offences, including violating laws on demonstrations, damaging public property, taking part in illegal demonstrations, causing interruptions to public services, damaging a place of worship, and protecting criminals. In total 244 defendants received prison sentences ranging from two months and 15 days to one year, two months, and 16 days. Andrew Gardner, a researcher on Turkey at Amnesty International, told The BMJ that this was “a highly political case” and was “purely and simply targeting the doctors for providing emergency medical aid.” There were allegations that Gezi Park protesters drank beer and wore shoes in a nearby mosque, he said. “In the trial the imam said that he did not see anyone making the mosque dirty, wearing shoes, or anything like that, but despite that there has been this conviction against four people for denigrating the mosque.” Vincent Iacopino, medical director for Physicians for Human Rights, said, “The imprisonment of Turkish doctors who did not remove their shoes while providing emergencymedical care in the Dolmabahҫe Mosque during the Gezi Park events is a reckless display of political power and contempt for the most basic medical principle: to care for those in need without discrimination.” The president of the World Medical Association, Michael Marmot, said, “As members of the international medical community we are gravely concerned at the punitive sentences that have been imposed on these two doctors. Physicians should never be punished for following their professional duty of providing care without discrimination to those in need. “The Turkish authorities have an obligation to respect the sacred duty of physicians to care for those in need and uphold people’s right to health at all times. These young doctors were simply following international standards of medical ethics by providing emergency medical care to those who needed it.” He added, “We have repeatedly urged the Turkish authorities to bring a halt to this inhumane situation of arresting and imprisoning health professionals who care for the sick and wounded.” In January 2014 the Turkish government created a new law in which medical professionals who provided independent assistance once official health services were on the scene could face up to three years’ imprisonment or a fine of two million Turkish lira (£560 000; €675 000; $920 000). Gardner said that Amnesty International had “severe concerns” about the law, which it expressed at the time. “It basically puts people providing emergency first aid in the same category as someone opening a hospital without a licence,” he said. “This law is very damaging, and it is clear that it could be used against doctors providing this sort of care. I don’t know of any cases of it being used so far, but it imposes very severe penalties, and it has had an impact in that people are afraid.”