7 Alleged RedHack Members Arrested

Seven people were arrested on the grounds of their alleged membership in RedHack. They were part of a group of 17 persons in total who were taken into police custody during operations against RedHack carried out in eight different provinces in the beginning of this week.

RedHack made the headlines in the end of February when they hacked databases of the Ankara Police Directorate and POLNET (Police Net).

RedHack claimed to have five members and that none of them was among the people taken into police custody. The hackers group said that the people in custody were young internet users who shared news related to the hackers group on their facebook accounts.

RedHack had published parts of the data seized from the Ankara Police Directorate. The prosecutor in charge of cyber crimes decided for a lack of jurisdiction last week. He forwarded the file to the Special Authority Prosecution in charge of organized crime.

"We will be more radical"

In a statement made to the Radikal daily, RedHack announced that their group consisted of five members with the aliases "pReCipiCe", "Xebat", "MaNYaK", "BayRed" and "RedJunior".

"People we do not know at all are being punished for our actions. It seems we are given the message 'These people are our hostages, come and surrender'. From now on we will proceed harder and more radical. If necessary, we will publish the documents we have uncensored. We are not going to leave these people alone. If necessary we will go to prison and again we will be at their side".

"They took young people into custody who shared news about RedHack on their facebook account after the file had been sent to the special authority prosecution. They created offenders according to the crime only to save face. They are trying to control the internet as the only place they are not able to control. They should release these young people and attend to us".

The RedHack members stated that 15-year-old high school students were among the people taken into custody. "How can a 15-year-old student be a member of a group that was founded in 1997?" they questioned.

"Everybody has been a member for ten years. We have no new members. We are here and we believe that what we are doing is correct, just and legitimate. If they are a real government they should investigate the 'police memorandum' disclosed by the documents instead of addressing 15-year-old juveniles as the enemy".

RedHack emphasized that "the leakage of dozens of confidential documents related to the Ergenekon trial has not been investigated. The only difference to us is that they leaked the documents for money or to assist the religious community whereas we took them fairly".

Interrogation: "Do you have internet?"

Here are some of the questions asked by Special Authority Prosecutor Hakan Yüksel to the people in custody.

* Do you have any duty in the formation named RedHack? Did you participate in the mentioned actions?

* Who is the organization leader with the alias 'Manyak'?

* Do you have an internet line that you are using at your residence? Do you have a fix IP address for that line?

* Do you have an e-mail address you are using?

* Do you have a user profile on any social network site? If yes, what are the names of these profile sites and the e-mail addresses? (AS)