Turkey: Release Foreign Journalists Immediately

Washington

In response to Turkish authorities’ continued detention of Mohammed Rasool, an Iraqi journalist who was working for VICE News in southeast Turkey, and the detention September 6th of Fredrike Geerdink, a Dutch reporter, Freedom House issued the following statement:

“We are concerned that Rasool remains in detention while his British colleagues have been released, and that Geerdink has again been detained in southeastern Turkey” said Susan Corke, Director of Eurasia Programs at Freedom House. “Reporting on organizations like the PKK and ISIS by definition requires journalists to take risks. Being arrested and accused of aiding terrorism under vague and arbitrary laws should not be one of them. Both of these journalists should be released immediately.”

Background

Mohammed Rasool was arrested on August 27 along with two British journalists working for VICE News in Diyarbakir, Turkey, where they were reporting on clashes between the Turkish police and Kurdish armed groups. They were charged with “aiding a terrorist organization.” The British journalists were released September 3, but Rasool remains in detention. Fredrike Geerdink is a Dutch reporter based in Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey. She was prosecuted earlier this year under anti-terrorism laws, but was acquitted.

Turkey is rated Partly Free in Freedom in the World 2015,  Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2015, and Partly Free in Freedom on the Net 2014.