Mehdi Zana back and free

It was the first time he had entered Turkey since leaving a decade ago after serving a total of 16 years in prison on charges of advocating Kurdish separatism. Mehdi Zana has spent the last ten years overseas, while his wife, Leyla Zana, was in jail on treason charges. Leyla Zana was released earlier this year and went to Brussels to finally receive the European Parliament Sakharov Freedom of Thought Prize she won in 1995. On their return to Turkey Mehdi Zana was taken into custody at Istanbul Ataturk Airport. He spent the night in jail and was taken to Istanbul Court of Justice on Saturday. The judge decided that the charges against him were not applicable anymore and released him.

Mehdi Zana, speaking after his release, said, "They realized there was nothing they could do and then they released me."

Originally, there was an arrest warrant for Mehdi Zana for failing to give testimony in a case, but the law has since been amended and the court decided that he had nothing to answer.

When asked if the timing of his arrival was prearranged, he said: "No. I was going to come before, but my wife asked me to remain there [Brussels] so that we could return together. We met as a family for the first time in ten years in Brussels."

His lawyer Semih Okcuoglu said all the arrest warrants issued for his client were now annulled, adding: "He is now free."