Turkish reporter behind bars after naming officials in social media post
A Turkish news-writer got detained for sharing info about state officials on social media. The case brings up questions about press rights in Turkey‚ which ranks low in global media freedom
In a recent turn-of-events Furkan Karabay from 10Haber news-site got locked up after posting names of state officials on X platform; the court made its decision just yesterday
The whole story started when Ahmet Ozer (mayor of Istanbuls Esenyurt area) got arrested about 2 weeks ago: prosecutors say he has links to PKK which is a banned group. After that Karabay shared some info about the case investigators on social-media which led to his quick detention
The arrest of a journalist for sharing already public information is completely against the law
The court papers show a weird reason for keeping him locked up - they say his posts were targeting people who fight terror. However Karabay told judges that opposition leader Ozgur Ozel and other media already shared these names before; its not new info
- Press freedom groups say its wrong
- Main opposition party doesnt agree with arrest
- Reporters Without Borders thinks its early punishment
- Turkey sits at spot 158 out of 180 countries for press rights
The case shows how media workers face hard times in Turkey where sharing basic news info can lead to jail-time (even when the same facts are already out there)
