Meşale Tolu was born to second-generation emigrated Turkish parents as the youngest of three siblings in Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany in 1984.

Tolu studied Ethics and Spanish language at the Goethe University Frankfurt for teaching in a gymnasium.

After she gave birth to her son Serkan in Neu-Ulm end 2014,[2] she moved with her husband Suat Çorlu to Istanbul, Turkey to work as a reporter and translator.

[2][9][10] Around 4:30 local time on May 1, 2017,[11] an anti-terror squad of the Turkish Police raided the residence of the family Çorlu in Kartal, Istanbul Province.

[2][4] Tolu Çorlu was accused of spreading propaganda for the illegal Marxist–Leninist Communist Party of Turkey (MLKP) and membership in the organization.

[14] The court ruled in a routine session on August 23 that she had to remain in detention due to a possible risk of absconding and a not yet completed collection of evidence.

[21] In 2019 Tolu published a book on her case entitled „Mein Sohn bleibt bei mir!“: Als politische Geisel in türkischer Haft und warum es noch nicht zu Ende ist ("My son stays with me!