Prominent academic attempts suicide in jail

A prominent chemical engineer and opponent of political Islam in Turkey attempted suicide recently in Ankara's Sincan prison, according to people close to him. Kemal Gürüz, a former president of the Turkish Council of Higher Education and of the research funding agency TÜBITAK, has been in prison for more than a year on what his supporters say are political charges, writes Michele Catanzaro for Science.

Gürüz (65) tried to cut the veins in his wrists with glass from a broken window, says Celal Gengör, a geologist at Istanbul Technical University and a friend of Gürüz. He was immediately taken to hospital and his life is not in danger. Gengör, who is in contact with Gürüz's wife, says the failed suicide attempt followed the liberation of prisoners detained on similar charges; he says Gürüz despaired because he wasn't released as well.

Gürüz was arrested on 25 June 2012. A spokesperson for the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (IHRNASS) says that Gürüz has been indicted in the so-called Postmodern Coup Trial, an inquiry into the role of the military in the collapse of the first Islamist-led government in Turkey in 1997. Gürüz denied all responsibility in a letter from jail in July 2012. According to Gengör, a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences, Gürüz has never been heard in court.
Full report on the Science site