Aysel Tughluq, a Kurdish politician sentenced to 10 years in prison in Turkey in 2018 for “belonging to a terrorist organization”, was released on Thursday after doctors ruled that her dementia prevented her from remaining behind bars, AFP reported.

At the age of 57, she was a member of the leadership of the pro-Kurdish HDP party until her arrest in 2016.

The prosecutor’s office in Kocaeli province ruled that keeping Tughluq in a prison in northwestern Turkey would pose a threat to his life, according to the conclusion of a forensic medical examination, private television NTV reported.

Last August, Turkey’s Constitutional Court rejected a request for her release, but ordered her to undergo regular neurological and psychiatric treatment at a hospital.

Aysel Tughluk’s supporters believe she suffered from dementia after witnessing an attack by Turkish nationalists during her mother’s funeral in Ankara in 2017, which she was allowed to attend.

She was arrested for her activities in the DTK, a group that Turkish authorities believe is linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey and its Western allies describe as a “terrorist” organization.