Twenty-seven detained for 'inciting hatred' and 'disseminating misleading information'
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Photo: Aykırı Haber announced that their editor-in-chief was taken into custody
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Twenty-seven people, social media account managers of the internet news portals Aykırı Haber, Muhbir, and Haber Report among them, were detained in 13 provinces on charges of "publicly inciting hatred and enmity" and "publicly disseminating misleading information."
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has initiated the operation and said, in a statement released today, that "hate speech was used on the internet and social media "publicly inciting hatred and enmity" and "publicly disseminating misleading information," as identified through open-source research.
They have therefore initiated an investigation against those who made the posts.
As a result, detention orders were issued for 27 individuals located in Ankara, Hatay, Antalya, Samsun, Kahramanmaraş, Sakarya, İzmir, Siirt, Şanlıurfa, Tokat, Edirne, Bursa, and Istanbul.
Statement from Minister Yerlikaya
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya made the following statement on his social media account regarding the issue:
"As a result of operations conducted by 14 Provincial Police Departments with the coordination of the General Directorate of Security Cyber Crimes Combat Bureau, supported by the Intelligence Directorate and the Security Directorate, 27 suspected individuals were detained in simultaneous operations carried out in 14 provinces against social media account managers who were found to have incited hatred and enmity among the public and disseminated misleading information to our citizens through hate speech used on the internet and social media."
Lawyer Ersöz: "You cannot detain journalists"
Lawyer Hüseyin Ersöz criticized the detention process with a post on social media platform X:
"The minimum sentence for the crime of 'Incitement to hatred and enmity among the public,' which the journalists are being accused of, is only 1.5 years. Even if such an allegation exists, you cannot detain journalists! Because according to the Execution Law, those who commit this crime do not go to prison. On the other hand, for this crime to be committed, there must be 'an open and imminent danger to public security.' News that was made days ago and has lost its effect does not create 'an imminent danger.' These detentions result in a violation of freedom of expression."
(AS/PE)
