Media watchdog chief urges Turkey to free detained journalists
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Reporters Without Borders chief Thibaut Bruttin on Wednesday urged Turkey to release several journalists arrested this week for covering mass protests in Istanbul, including AFP photographer Yasin Akgul.
"These journalists were only doing their job. They have no business being brought before a court. They absolutely must be released," Bruttin told AFP.
He described the arrests as "absolutely scandalous".
"Reporters Without Borders is calling on both the justice ministry to stop the prosecution of the journalists who have been arrested, and the interior ministry to ensure that the police respect the work of the press," Bruttin, RSF's director general, said.
Akgul, 35, was one of 10 Turkish journalists rounded up early on Monday after days of covering the mass protests that erupted on March 19 when Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu -- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival -- was arrested.
Seven were later remanded in custody.
Akgul and his colleagues were arrested at their homes before dawn, which Bruttin said was particularly concerning.
"What's serious is that journalists were arrested in their homes for covering protests," he said.
"We can clearly see the extent to which the current government and President Erdogan don't want us to cover these protests, they don't want us to talk about them."
The journalists have been charged with "taking part in illegal rallies and marches and failing to disperse despite warnings", court documents showed.
Bruttin said authorities were abusing a law on public demonstrations -- setting a "dangerous precedent" in a country that was already "very repressive" for journalists.
Turkey ranks 158 out of 180 countries listed in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index compiled by RSF.
Writing to the Turkish presidency about Akgul's case, AFP chief executive and chairman Fabrice Fries slammed the imprisonment as "unacceptable".
Akgul, he stressed, was "not part of the protest" but only covering it as a journalist and should be swiftly released.