RSF: Turkey Continues to be the Biggest Jail for Journalists

Click to read the article in Turkish/Kurdish

The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced its report on journalists who were killed, arrested, taken hostage and went missing.

According to the report, 65 journalists were killed; 326 were arrested; 54 were taken hostage and two journalists went missing.

Killed journalists

The report briefly read:

* 55 of the 65 murdered journalists were men, 10 were women

* 39 of the murdered journalists were specifically targeted, 16 were killed during coverage. 58 of them were national and seven were foreign journalists and 35 of them were killed in the conflict zones.

* 1,035 journalists were killed in the last 15 years. 12 of them were killed in Syria, 11 in Mexica, nine in Afghanistan, eight in Iraq and four in Philippines.

2017 was the year in which the least number of journalists were killed for over 14 years. The RSF in its report said, “This downward trend may be due in part to the many campaigns waged by international NGOs and media organizations on the need to provide journalists with more protection”.

“More security training has helped to better prepare journalists for visits to hostile terrain. Thought has also been given to the status of freelancers, and initiatives have been undertaken with the goal of giving them the same kind of protection as staffers”. 

Detained journalists

* Turkey ranked top five with respect to the arrested journalists. China has 52; Turkey has 43; Syria has 24; Iran has 23 and Vietnam has 19 imprisoned journalists.

* “Turkey continues to be the biggest jail for journalists”, the report stated.

* The report stressed that some journalists were killed not because of their practice but authoritarian regimes’ desire to send a message to the journalists. For Die Welt reporter Deniz Yücel who is imprisoned in Turkey, RSF in its report said Yücel is “also the victim of a conflict for which he is not responsible”.

* The report also stated that with the State of Emergency declared in the wake of July 15, 2016 coup attempt, “the right to due process no longer exists and arbitrary decision-making affects everyone”. 

Journalists held hostage

It was expressed in the report that 44 professional journalists; 7 citizen-journalists and three media workers were held hostage.

98% of the journalists held hostage were men where 2% were women. 85% of them were national and 15% were foreign journalists.

29 of the journalists were taken hostage in Syria; 12 in Yemen and two in Ukraine.

The groups that took the journalists hostage were Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (22), Houthis (11), Al Nusra and Al Qaida.

Missing journalists

The missing journalists were listed as follows in the report:

Samar Abbas has been missing since January 7. Abbas went missing in Pakistan.

Utpal Das has been missing since October 10. Das went missing in Bangladesh. (EA/TK)

Click here to read the full report