Today, the International Press Institute (IPI), PEN International, Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) and 42 undersigned organisations mark the 1,500th day of the journalist Nedim Türfent’s imprisonment with a call for his release.
Türfent was detained on May 12, 2016, shortly after reporting on Turkish special police forces’ ill-treatment of around 40 workers in the south-eastern city of Hakkari in Spring 2016. After the video footage taken by Türfent was and published by the now-shuttered pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency,, Türfent began receiving death threats from the police in the form of funeral photos. An online harassment campaign was launched against him in April 2016 including death threats and insults and anonymous or bot accounts asking about his whereabouts.
One day after his arrest on May 13, 2016, Türfent was charged with “membership of a terrorist organization”. The indictment was first produced 13 months after his arrest, at the first hearing on June 14, 2017. By that time, Türfent had already been jailed for 399 days.
Of the 20 witnesses called in the ensuing trial, 19 said that their initial statements against Türfent had been obtained under torture. Yet the court sentenced him to eight years and nine months in prison in December 2017. On May 21, 2019, Turkey’s Supreme Court of Cassation upheld his sentence. His case is now pending before the European Court of Human Rights.
June 21 marks 1,500 days that Türfent has spent behind bars, deprived of his freedom and the right to practice his profession – journalism.
We call on Turkish authorities once again to stop this injustice!
Signed by:
International Press Institute (IPI) Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA)
Joint Statement for Journalist Nedim Türfent
Today, the International Press Institute (IPI), PEN International, Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) and 42 undersigned organisations mark the 1,500th day of the journalist Nedim Türfent’s imprisonment with a call for his release.
Türfent was detained on May 12, 2016, shortly after reporting on Turkish special police forces’ ill-treatment of around 40 workers in the south-eastern city of Hakkari in Spring 2016. After the video footage taken by Türfent was and published by the now-shuttered pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency,, Türfent began receiving death threats from the police in the form of funeral photos. An online harassment campaign was launched against him in April 2016 including death threats and insults and anonymous or bot accounts asking about his whereabouts.
One day after his arrest on May 13, 2016, Türfent was charged with “membership of a terrorist organization”. The indictment was first produced 13 months after his arrest, at the first hearing on June 14, 2017. By that time, Türfent had already been jailed for 399 days.
Of the 20 witnesses called in the ensuing trial, 19 said that their initial statements against Türfent had been obtained under torture. Yet the court sentenced him to eight years and nine months in prison in December 2017. On May 21, 2019, Turkey’s Supreme Court of Cassation upheld his sentence. His case is now pending before the European Court of Human Rights.
June 21 marks 1,500 days that Türfent has spent behind bars, deprived of his freedom and the right to practice his profession – journalism.
We call on Turkish authorities once again to stop this injustice!
Signed by:
International Press Institute (IPI)
Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA)
PEN International