Operation on Attorneys and Journalists in İstanbul

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At least 16 people have been taken into custody in an operation carried out in the early morning hours today (October 19). 20 houses were raided in the operation. Two lawyers and two journalists are among the detainees.

Law Office of the Oppressed informed that no prosecutor or a bar authority was present during the searches and the people in the bureau were forced to wait together in a room while other parts of the bureau were being searched.

According to the report of the law office, attorneys Özlem Gümüştaş, Sezin Uçar, as well as İsminaz Temel and Havva Cuştan; employees of Etkin News Agency (ETHA) and Meral Tatar, Erkan Kahça, Nihat Göktaş, Mehmet Aslan, İlhan Aslan and Özgen Sadet are in custody.

The news agency reported on its Twitter account,

"All computers of the attorneys in our bureau and their digital property in their houses have been seized".

In the operation carried out by teams of the İstanbul Security Directorate Anti-Terror Department, also magazines and books in the bureau were seized besides the digital belongings of the attorneys.

Doğan News Agency has reported that the operation was against the "Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) and The Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist (TKP/ML).

The detainees have been brought to İstanbul Security Directorate after their medical examinations were completed in Hastanesi Education and Research Hospital. (AS/DG)