The three high-profile journalists were arrested on accusations of ‘spreading false information’.
ISTANBUL: Free-speech advocates expressed their concerns on Thursday over a widening state crackdown on press freedom in Turkey after the arrests of three high-profile journalists on accusations of “spreading false information”.
The government’s Center for Combating Disinformation, run by the presidency’s Directorate of Communications, said an article by Sardan contained disinformation and was based on a nonexistent MIT report.“We are journalists. We do journalism. That’s all,” Sardan told reporters on Wednesday before being sent to the Sincan prison in Ankara.
Cengiz Erdinc, a columnist for the kisadalga.net news portal, was detained on Thursday on the instructions of the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office for “spreading false information” in the western province of Balikesir, state-run Anadolu Agency said.The disinformation law partly targets those who spread what authorities decree to be false information online about Turkey’s security to “create fear and disturb public order”, which Ankara says is needed to protect the public.
More than 20 journalists, mostly local reporters, are being targeted by the “spreading false information” article added to the Turkish penal code last year, Onderoglu said.On Thursday, journalist associations demonstrated in Ankara to protest Sardan’s detention and demanded his release.
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