A mum who shot her husband dead in a struggle after he raped and tortured her before leaving her naked and tied to a chair has been reunited with her daughters after being freed from prison.

When she was found, images of her beaten and bloody face was shared around the world, but despite this, Turkish authorities locked up Melek Ipek, 31, and separated her from her daughters, and the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment demanding a life sentence.

They argued the fact that her husband Ramazan Ipek, 36, had gone to get the family breakfast, after attacking her and tying her to a chair, proved he was not the monster she claimed.

As details of the case came to light following her arrest, it was revealed that the young mother of two said she had been forced to marry her husband after he raped her in high school.

He had also beaten and abused ever since they were together after she gave up her dream of becoming a maths teacher when she was forced into the marriage.

In the last attack, he had given her a violent beating that lasted for hours, during which she was also raped and left tied to a chair, she said.

He said he was going to get some breakfast and told her he would kill her and their daughters when he returned.

She managed to reach a gun in the hallway after he went out by tipping the chair over, and when he came back despite being warned to stay away, he attacked her and the gun allegedly went off when he tried to wrestle it from her hands.

He was shot dead.

Campaigners argued that her actions were the only thing that stopped her and her two daughters, aged seven and nine, from being among them dozens of women already killed this year in Turkey.

She told a recent hearing, in which she was facing life in jail: “My husband would beat me for no reason at all. He would wake up in the morning, frustrated and angry because of a dream he’d had and beat me just because of it.”

She added: “He was not only violent towards me but also towards our children. He would especially beat my older daughter. My daughter had to learn not to cry when she was beaten, because when she cried, he would beat her more.”

The Antalya 3rd High Criminal Court will receive an indictment suggesting it take into account the fact that she had suffered violence, but said that only justified reducing the jail term to 24 years.

But now, after international media coverage in which the case was used to highlight the abuse of women in Turkey, which recently stepped out of the Istanbul Convention, court officials accepted that it was not fair to convict her based on the abuse that she suffered, and she was released immediately and reunited with her daughters.

The prosecutor, in the surprise hearing on 26th April, agreed to reduce the prison term demanded to 6 years for “involuntary manslaughter”, but the court ruled this out, saying that there was no need to punish Melek, in accordance with a provision in Article 27 of the Turkish Penal Code.

It cites that “the perpetrator will not be punished if exceeding the limit in legitimate defence from fear.”

Melek, who was arrested for killing her torturer husband and remained in prison for 108 days, stepped into freedom from prison after the release order.

Hugging her daughters, who were waiting at the door and crying, Melek said: “I was waiting for this decision, but I did not expect it to happen in such a short time. I just want to go to my home with my daughters, cuddle and sleep with them.”

She was later seen as she hugged her daughters Ceylin Deniz and Ikra Nur for a long time and said: “I missed you so much, my dearests.”

Following the release decision, NGOs following the case made statements on social media.

In a statement they made on Twitter, We Will Stop Femicide Platform said: “This decision given to Melek who was exposed to violence because the Istanbul Convention was not implemented is a precedent. The struggle for women who need justice will continue until all women live equally and freely!”

The Federation of Women Associations of Turkey also made a statement on Twitter and stated: “We are encouraged. A woman’s eyelashes will not get wet again, and her daughters will move forward peacefully in life. Together we must stop the violence.”

A petition launched for Melek on change.org (https://bit.ly/2LBWMV5) received a large number of signatures in a short time, especially after the publication of her ordeal in the international press.

There has been an increase in femicides in the last month all over Turkey, since it withdrew from the “Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence”, also known as the “Istanbul Convention” on 20th March.

Melek’s arrest put her at the forefront of protests after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention by a presidential decree published in the official government gazette on 20th March.