Reporters Without Borders representative, two others jailed in Turkey
New York, June 20, 2016–Authorities should immediately release and drop all charges against two human rights defenders and a journalist arrested in Istanbul, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A court in Istanbul today ordered Erol Önderoğlu, the Turkey representative of the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and two other people arrested…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 19
Court indicts TV journalist on terrorism charges for tweets The Bakırköy Second Court of Serious Crimes in Istanbul indicted Hamza Aktan, news editor at the pro-Kurdish television station IMC TV, on charges of “making propaganda for a [terrorist] organization” in connection with nine posts he made to Twitter from 2015 through January 2016, IMC TV…
World Refugee Day: Fear of arrest drives journalists into exile
In August 2014 two journalists living more than 4,000 miles apart slipped across a border to find safety: one with his wife and three children, the other alone. Idrak Abbasov, from Azerbaijan, and Sanna Camara, from Gambia, faced imprisonment because of their reporting. Neither has been able to return home.
Syrian journalist in Turkey survives second assassination attempt
Beirut, June 13, 2016 — The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns the attempted assassination of Syrian journalist Ahmed Abd al-Qader in the southeastern Turkish town of Urfa. Sunday’s attack on the journalist was the second in three months.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 12
Constitutional Court rejects journalist’s appeal Turkey’s Constitutional Court today ruled that journalist Mehmet Baransu’s constitutional right to freedom of expression and the constitution’s guarantees of press freedom were not contravened in the journalist’s March 2015 arrest in connection with in an alleged, elaborate conspiracy codenamed “Sledgehammer.” The same court in May 2016 rejected his petition…
Infographic: Islamic State’s assault on the press
When Mosul fell to Islamic State on June, 10, 2014, it sparked one of the biggest attacks on press freedom in recent times. Newspapers were shuttered, TV channels were ransacked, radio stations disappeared from the airwaves, and dozens of journalists vanished. Within days, the militants had a monopoly on information output.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 5
Provincial officials ask journalists to submit to prior censorship: report Top officials in southeastern Turkey’s Gaziantep province, near the Syrian border, on June 1 convened local journalists to ask them not to report on “the bad things happening in the city,” and to submit their stories to a group on the messaging service WhatsApp which…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 29
Turkish journalists launch solidarity campaign for jailed colleagues The Free Journalists Association (ÖGC) on Thursday afternoon held a press conference in front of Istanbul’s Diyarbakır courthouse to announce a new campaign to show solidarity with their jailed peers. ÖGC co-chairs Nevin Erdemir and Hakkı Boltan read aloud a list of 46 detained journalists whose trials…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 22
Prison sentences for newspaper editors Istanbul’s 13th Court for Serious Crimes sentenced Eren Keskin and Reyhan Çapan, former editor and news editor, respectively, of the pro-Kurdish daily newspaper Özgür Gündem, to three years and nine months in prison each on charges of spreading terrorist propaganda, the newspaper reported today. Both are free, pending appeal. In…
Turkish High Court denies journalist’s petition for release from pretrial detention
Istanbul, May 18, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a decision made Tuesday by Turkey’s Constitutional Court to reject a petition for release by journalist Mehmet Baransu, who has been held in pretrial detention since March 2015 on charges of obtaining classified documents.