Prosecutors dismiss journalist's complaint against radical Islamist threats

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Ankara prosecutors have dismissed a criminal complaint by journalist Hale Gönültaş, who received threats from a radical Islamist group.

The prosecutors did not investigate anyone except one person and issued a decision of non-prosecution on June 13, despite Gönültaş submitting the threat messages and the documents showing that she was threatened by phone, the T24 news portal reported. Gönültaş had filed her complaint on May 3.

The threats were related to a video that Gönültaş reported on in May 2022, in which a woman allegedly affiliated with ISIS threatened those who did not want sharia with a knife in her hand. The woman was detained in a house raid targeting suspected ISIS members.

Gönültaş, a journalist who specializes in ISIS and refugee issues, said she received threats from members of the radical Islamist group Tevhid after this report.

In her report, Gönültaş included the statements of the suspects related to the issue. In some of the statements, the Tevhid (Tawhid) group and its leader, Halis Bayancuk, were mentioned.

After the news, people who called her by phone accused Gönültaş of negatively affecting a "terror" case opened against Bayancuk with her news and threatened her that there would be a "consequence and responsibility" if she did not remove the article. Gönültaş was also threatened by many social media accounts.

"Abstract allegations"

As a result, Gönültaş made the threats public and filed a criminal complaint to the prosecutor's office.

In its decision, the prosecutor's office stated that "in light of the investigation conducted and the evidence collected, there was no sufficient evidence beyond any doubt that would require the opening of a criminal case against the suspect for committing the crime of threat against the complainant, except for an abstract allegation..."

The decision did not include any information on whether the phone in question was investigated or whether any research was done on social media accounts. The statement of the person identified as the suspect was also not included in the decision. (RT/VK)