2023-07-28 10:30:37
Los y las periodistas Sibel Yukler, Fırat Can Arslan, Delal Akyuz, Evrim Kepenek, Evrim Deniz | MA, Bianet TW: @_evrimdnz.
Amnesty International and organizations defending media freedom, freedom of expression and human rights strongly condemn the arrest, on July 25 in Turkey, of Sibel Loadseditor of T24; Worked by Akyüz y Firat Can Arslanreporters from the Mezopotamya Agency; Evrim Kepenekeditor of Bianet, and Evolution Seafreelance journalist.
While four of those journalists were released on probation, Arslan he was arrested later that same day. We demand his immediate release.
In the local media it was informed that the journalists had been detained for their posts on social media about the reassignment by the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) of a prosecutor and a judge, to whom the former is married, implicated in the court case recent survey of 18 journalists in Diyarbakır. According to a report, journalists are accused of “revealing, publishing and targeting a public official in the exercise of his work to combat terrorism” (Anti-Terrorism Law, art. 6.1).
loads, a writer for T24, was arrested during a raid on her Ankara home early in the morning and taken to the Ankara police department. She at the end of the day she was released under judicial control, including a ban on traveling abroad.
To the reporter of MA Arslan he was also arrested during a morning house search at his home in Ankara during which police reportedly seized his phone and computer. Arslan was arrested that same day on the charge of “targeting a public official in the exercise of his work to combat terrorism.”
Akyuz, a reporter for MA, was arrested at his home in Izmir early in the morning and taken to a police station in the Çankaya district. That same day he was released and was subjected to judicial control, including a ban on traveling abroad.
A blanket, editor of Bianet, was arrested that same day in the afternoon at her home in Istanbul. Police seized her digital equipment and handcuffed her with plastic handcuffs before taking her to a Taksim police station in central Istanbul. The police stated that Kepenek had been detained as part of an investigation carried out by the Diyarbakır General Prosecutor’s Office for “revealing, publishing and targeting a public official in the course of his anti-terrorism work”. After spending a day in custody, Kepenek was taken to the Istanbul Court in metal handcuffs on the morning of July 26. That same day she was released and was subjected to judicial control, including a ban on traveling abroad.
The freelance journalist Deniz she was arrested after going to a local police station in Diyarbakır to give a statement at the request of the local police. The same day was released and was subjected to judicial control, including a ban on traveling abroad.
Article 6.1 of the Anti-terrorism Lawunder which journalists are investigated, is being misused to punish them for disseminating information of public interest that is publicly available. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has previously expressed its reservations about the application of the provision, because it does not recognize the defense of the truth and the public interest.
The fact that the prosecutor who drew up the indictment against the journalists who were collectively detained turns out to be married to a judge who was part of the court of that same case, and that the prosecutor and the judge were later reassigned to other positions, is public information and is in the public interest. Therefore, the information and its dissemination must be considered a journalistic activity.
According to him Turkish Journalists Union (TGS)a member of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), as of July 12, 2023, there were 20 journalists in prison.
Amnesty International stands in solidarity with the detained journalists and calls on the Turkish authorities to end the abusive use of anti-terrorism legislation and the arbitrary and systematic detention of journalists.
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