The IFJ/EFJ, English Pen and other trade unions and press freedom organisations have called for the immediate release of leading investigative journalist Ahmet Sik, who was taken into custody in Istanbul on 29 December. Following his detention Ahmet Şık has now been charged. He is accused of making terrorist propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and the Gülen movement (FETÖ), which the government has blamed for the failed coup attempt in July 2016.
He has also been charged under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, for ‘publicly denigrating the Republic of Turkey, its judiciary, military and security forces’.
English PEN believes that the charges are politically motivated and calls for Şık’s immediate release.”The detention of award-winning investigative journalist Ahmet Şık once again highlights the growing post-coup crackdown in Turkey, English PEN and PEN International said today, as they reiterated calls for freedom of expression to be safeguarded during the current state of emergency.
Şık was taken from his home in Istanbul as a government crackdown targeting critical voices in the press intensified further.
Further reading at:
https://www.englishpen.org/campaigns/turkey-pen-calls-for-release-of-ahmet-sik/
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