Journalist Doğa Baskan arrested over report online for only minutes
Doğa Baskan, Ankara correspondent for the left-wing daily Evrensel was formally arrested today on charges of "publicly disseminating misleading information" over a news draft that was mistakenly uploaded to the newspaper's website and removed shortly after. Baskan was taken into custody yesterday.
The newspaper filed an objection to the decision with its lawyer, İlke Işık, saying that the arrest was based solely on the prosecution’s assessment.
"When the content of the report, the duration it remained online, and whether it resonated with the public are evaluated together, we are faced with a situation where none of the elements of Article 217/A have been met," she said.
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Baskan, a university student, had to leave behind her cat, her mother, and her education. "She is faced with having her life suddenly halted without any criminal element," Işık said.
"We expect her release before a lawsuit is filed or a trial even begins," Işık added. "The arrest was made based on a single page of internet printout. Moreover, the report itself is not even in the prosecution’s file; they searched for it but could not find it. There is an arrest over content that does not actually exist." (HA/VK)