Oct. 29 () –
An Ankara court has sent nine Turkish journalists to jail this Saturday who were arrested four days ago for allegedly having links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered by Turkey to be a terrorist organization.
According to the Kurdish news agency Rudaw, the arrests were made during several raids by Kurdish security forces on the homes of eleven Kurdish journalists and two Kurdish media outlets, the Mezopotamya news agency and Jin News.
Those imprisoned are the editor of the agency, Diren Yurtsever, and the media’s journalists Deniz Nazlim, Selman Guzelyuz, Berivan Altan, Hakan Yalcin, Emrullah Acar, and Ceylan Sahinli. Jin News journalists Habibe Eren and Oznur Deger will also go to jail.
The arrests received criticism from international NGOs and the slogan “Journalism is not a crime” spread on social networks.
The coordinator for Europe and Central Asia of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Gulnoza Said, has demanded the immediate release of the reporters and has condemned the secrecy of the investigation that has led to their imprisonment.
