IPS signature campaign for Nedim Þener
IPS signature campaign for Nedim Þener
The International Press Institute (IPS) has launched a signature campaign to ask the release of imprisoned journalist Nedim Þener. The Turkish journalist had been awarded by the IPI World Press Freedom Hero.
“I was ready to pay the price to reveal the truth.” When Turkish author, Nedim Þener published his 2007 book on the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, he understood the peril faced by journalists in Turkey, said the petition quoting Þener himself.
Þener spent nearly a year in prison though he has not been convicted of any crime.
Þener was arrested and accused of being part of the so-called Ergenekon plot, in which an alleged clandestine ultra-nationalist organisation with ties to military and security forces is said to have plotted to use terrorism to overthrow the government. The investigation against Þener is being carried out by the same law-enforcement figures whom he accused of neglect in his book on Hrant Dink.
Þener’s case is the Turkish government’s latest salvo in its assault on press freedom. By the government’s own admission, at least 50 other journalists are behind bars in the country, making Turkey one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists.
In a 26 October letter to IPI, Þener wrote, “At the end of the day, the indictment and its appendix show that the prosecution’s only charge against me is journalism. Therefore, it is journalism that will be tried in court.” He resolved to fight for the pursuit of truth “until the end of my life”.
No journalist should be imprisoned for reporting the truth, says the IPS. That Þener sits behind bars is a tragedy and casts a dark shadow over Turkey’s professed commitment to an open and democratic society.
IPI stands with Þener and is fighting to do all it can to free him and all others who are in jail for practising journalism. IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said of Þener, “I want him to know that neither I nor IPI will rest until we are able to see him face-to-face, no bars in sight.”
“I was ready to pay the price to reveal the truth.” When Turkish author, Nedim Þener published his 2007 book on the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, he understood the peril faced by journalists in Turkey, said the petition quoting Þener himself.
Þener spent nearly a year in prison though he has not been convicted of any crime.
Þener was arrested and accused of being part of the so-called Ergenekon plot, in which an alleged clandestine ultra-nationalist organisation with ties to military and security forces is said to have plotted to use terrorism to overthrow the government. The investigation against Þener is being carried out by the same law-enforcement figures whom he accused of neglect in his book on Hrant Dink.
Þener’s case is the Turkish government’s latest salvo in its assault on press freedom. By the government’s own admission, at least 50 other journalists are behind bars in the country, making Turkey one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists.
In a 26 October letter to IPI, Þener wrote, “At the end of the day, the indictment and its appendix show that the prosecution’s only charge against me is journalism. Therefore, it is journalism that will be tried in court.” He resolved to fight for the pursuit of truth “until the end of my life”.
No journalist should be imprisoned for reporting the truth, says the IPS. That Þener sits behind bars is a tragedy and casts a dark shadow over Turkey’s professed commitment to an open and democratic society.
IPI stands with Þener and is fighting to do all it can to free him and all others who are in jail for practising journalism. IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said of Þener, “I want him to know that neither I nor IPI will rest until we are able to see him face-to-face, no bars in sight.”
