Human rights defender and journalist arrested in Turkey on charges of “terrorist propaganda”

20th June 2016, Istanbul, Turkey: Authorities have arrested well known free speech advocate Erol Önderoglu, alongside head of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey Sebnem Korur Fincani and journalist and writer Ahmet Nesin, on charges of “terrorist propaganda” for participating in a solidarity campaign for the Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem.

Erol Önderoglu has worked for over two decades as the Turkish representative of the press freedom group and SRT grantee, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and is also a board member of SRT grantee IFEX. The three are among 44 journalists and activists who have served as co-editor of the pro-Kurdish daily newspaper for a day to protest the government’s persistent judicial harassment of the newspaper and its staff. To date, prosecutors have opened criminal investigations into at least 37 participants in the campaign. The three are being held in pre-trial detention and as yet a trial date has not been set.

Further information from IFEX’s website: https://www.ifex.org/turkey/2016/06/20/turkey_crackdown_erol_onderoglu/ https://cpj.org/2016/06/reporters-without-borders-representative-two-other.php#more