Detention of journalists over report on judicial members draws international condemnation

Freedom of expression and human rights organizations from Turkey and around the world have denounced the recent detention of five journalists during house raids in three cities.

Yesterday, Evrim Kepenek, bianet's women and LGBTI+ news editor, Sibel Yükler, a reporter for T24, Delal Akyüz and Fırat Can Arslan, reporters for Mezopotamya Agency (MA), and freelance journalist Evrim Deniz were detained.

While four of these journalists were conditionally released, Arslan was arrested later the same day.

The detentions were related to an investigation into a news report about the reassignment of a prosecutor and a judge, to whom the former is married, by the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), involved in the recent court case of 18 journalists in Diyarbakır.

Arslan had published the report and shared it on Twitter and the four other journalists had retweeted it.

The journalists are being accused of "disclosing, publishing and targeting a public official on anti-terror duties" as per article 6/1 of the Anti-Terror Law.

"Abuse of anti-terror laws"

The groups demanded the immediate release of Arslan and called on the authorities in Turkey to "stop abusing anti-terror laws."

"The fact that the prosecutor who prepared the indictment against journalists who were arrested en masse turned out to be married to one of the three judges on the panel of judges of the same case and that this prosecutor and judge were later reassigned is public information and is of public interest," said the statement. "Therefore, reporting and dissemination of such information must be regarded as journalistic activity.

"We stand in solidarity with the journalists in detention and call on the Turkish authorities to stop abusing anti-terror laws, and the arbitrary and systematic detention of journalists."

The signatory groups:

• Amnesty International Türkiye
• ARTICLE 19
• Association for Monitoring Equal Rights
• Association of Journalists in Ankara
• Association of Lawyers for Freedom
• Association of Life Memory Freedom
• Articolo 21
• Citizens' Assembly - Turkey
• Civil Rights Defenders
• Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ)
• English PEN
• European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
• European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
• FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
• Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD)
• Human Rights Agenda Association
• International Press Institute (IPI)
• IPS Communication Foundation / Bianet
• Kaos GL
• Lambdaistanbul LGBTI+ Solidarity Association
• May 17 Association
• Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA)
• Media and Migration Association
• Media Research Association (MEDAR)
• OBC Transeuropa (OBCT)
• OMCT (World Organisation Against Torture), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
• PEN International
• Platform for Independent Journalism (P24)
• Research Institute on Turkey
• Roma Memory Studies Association (Romani Godi)
• South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)
• Truth Justice Memory Center
• Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project (TLSP)
• University Queer Researches and LGBTI+ Solidarity Association (UniKuir)
• Women's Time Association
• 9th Istanbul Trans Pride Week Committee
• 31st Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week Committee
• Women for Women's Human Rights - New Ways

(TY/VK)