Two arrested reporters claim torture and abuse by Turkish police

Two female reporters working for different pro-Kurdish news agencies who were arrested say that they have been ill-treated and tortured by Turkish police since their arrests, the Gazete Duvar news portal reported on Monday.

A lawyer from the Journalists Union of Turkey revealed their allegations to Gazete Duvar after he had visited them in prison.

Ruken Demir from the Mezopotamya Agency (MA) and Melike Aydin from the Jin News Agency have been behind bars since they were detained after police officers raided their houses in Izmir early in the morning on November 12.

Their detentions were conducted as part of an investigation carried out by the Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The pro-Kurdish reporters were arrested by a local court four days later over the charge of “conducting activities on behalf of a terrorist organization” and have been sent to the Izmir Aliaga Sakran Women’s Closed Prison.

Ulku Sahin, a lawyer from the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) who visited the two reporters in jail, on Monday spoke to Gazete Duvar about their experiences of torture and ill-treatment by Turkish police that include strip-searching, battery, insults and threats.

According to a report by Bahar Unlu from Gazete Duvar, the reporters told Sahin that officers insistently referred to them as “terrorists” while carrying out their detention, although they explained the officers multiple times that they are journalists.

Demir reportedly stated that police officers who had raided her house beat her and handcuffed her hands behind her back before she underwent a court-ordered medical examination at the Alsancak State Hospital in Izmir.

The Gazete Duvar reported that the doctor who carried out her examination only reported the bruises that appeared on her wrists due to the handcuffs, arguing that the rest of the bruises would not have happened if she had not resisted the “courageous” police officers.

Both of the reporters also emphasized that they were strip-searched by the police officers, with Demir adding that an officer threatened her by saying if she refuses for it to happen in her house, a total of four police officers would conduct it when she is in custody.

The journalists also told the TGS lawyer that they were offered by the police officers during an “informal interrogation” to spy on the staff of the news agencies they work for and would, in return, freed from detention.

Demir and Aydin further elaborated that the prison’s guardians swore at them in Kurdish many times, not allowing them to receive any letters sent by their families or to engage in any social activities.

They also noted that while they were forced to watch pro-government tv channels ATV and Beyaz TV, they are not allowed to read newspapers such as Yeni Yasam, Evrensel, and Birgun that are critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his governing Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Last month, the International Press Institute (IPI) described Turkey in a report as the world’s “undisputed leading jailer of journalists” with over 120 press members currently imprisoned. At the same time, hundreds more are being prosecuted on terror-related offenses.

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from IPA NEWS https://ipa.news/2019/12/24/two-arrested-reporters-claim-torture-and-abuse-by-turkish-police/