Dozens of Kurdish journalists face terrorism trial in Turkey

11 Sep 12 | Europe and Central Asia, minipost, News and features

The biggest media trial in Turkey’s history has begun, 44 journalists appeared in an Istanbul court on Monday (10 September). Of those, 36 have been in pre-trial detention since December. The reporters face a variety of terrorism charges including accusations they supported the outlawed Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK), wrote articles about prison abuse, war casualties, and sexual harassment. Human rights groups say the trial is an attempt by the government to intimidate the press and punish pro-Kurdish activists. More than 100 journalists are currently in jail in Turkey.

Azerbaijani human rights lawyer detained at Istanbul airport

08 Dec 11 | Azerbaijan News, Index Index, minipost

An Azerbaijani human rights activist was detained for more than 24 hours at Istanbul airport on Tuesday evening. Intigam Aliyev was returning to Baku from the Civil Society Parallel Event, organized by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vilnius,  when he was accused of insulting an airport officer, and the return of his passport was refused. Aliyev reported being beaten by police whilst he was detained. He arrived in Baku in the early hours of this morning.

Turkey: Contributors to user-generated dictionary arrested

30 Jun 11 | minipost, News and features

Istanbul police have arrested 50 contributors to Turkey’s largest user-generated dictionary. The “Sour Dictionary” (Eksi Sozluk) site offers satirical definitions of a number of common words and has been running for around 12 years. The anonymous authors, who were identified through their IP addresses, have been charged with “insulting religion” following a complaint over a discussion about the prophet Muhammed. The site’s administrators have faced criticism for agreeing to hand over authors’ IP addresses to the police.