An İstanbul court has ordered access restrictions on two reports published by bianet concerning the Mar 19 detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the now-suspended mayor of İstanbul.
The İstanbul 5th Penal Court of Peace ordered an access block on two reports published on bianet’s Turkish edition, one covering the initial detention and the other listing all those taken into custody. Both articles have been removed from publication.
Following the decision, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) sent an email to bianet, instructing it to remove the articles within four hours. The court’s ruling, however, was not officially delivered to the newsroom.
In its message, the BTK wrote only that, under Article 8/A of Law No. 5651 on the Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Combating Crimes Committed Through Such Publications, it had decided to remove the content.
BIA Media Monitoring Reports
The article in question allows content to be removed or blocked on grounds of “protecting national security and public order.”
The court ruling was not formally notified to bianet.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Turkey representative Erol Önderoğlu, criticized the decision, saying, “Neither the BTK nor the Penal Court of Peace can censor online journalism with a sloppy and baseless decision that violates the public’s right to information and fails to meet the justification of ‘national security and public order." (HA/VK)
