Fewer journalists in Turkish prisons, but new dangers

[Sally]

We'll have to keep an eye to see if Turkey keeps on jailing journalists in the future.

Fewer journalists in Turkish prisons, but new dangers ahead

7 October 2014

Barry White

Although there are still 23 journalists and media workers behind bars in Turkey, the lowest number for many years, journalists and other media activists are still being targeted by the authorities.

The fact that Turkey is no longer is the world’s leading jailer of journalists and other media workers has much to do with the campaigning within Turkey together with international solidarity action and support. Pressure for judicial reform has also led to the release of a number of journalists brought about by the 4th Judicial Package, which, amongst other things, limited the period of pre-trial detention to 5 years (still far too long).

The recent election of President RT Erdogan, the former prime minister has done nothing to mend the bad relationship between him and the Gulen movement, his one-time ally.

Continue reading at:

Fewer journalists in Turkish prisons but new dangers ahead - National Union of Journalists?

 

[waltky]

Bein' a journalist is a dangerous job...

Islamic State group in Libya reportedly executes two Tunisian journalists
Jan. 8, 2015 ~ An official with the Tunisian Embassy in Washington, D.C., told UPI the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working to verify the claim.

Two journalists from Tunisia have reportedly been executed by an Islamic State group in Libya. IS posted a photo online Thursday showing the journalists, Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari, walking with an armed man who was clad in camouflage with a scarf over his face. A statement posted to jihadist websites claimed IS had "applied the law of Allah" against the two reporters, who IS said were involved in fighting religion and spreading corruption.

Sofiane Chourabi, pictured in a photo dated June 29, 2014, and Nadhir Ktari have reportedly been executed by the Islamic State.

Chourabi, a host and producer of Tunisia's First TV, and Ktari, a photographer, disappeared in September 2014 while on assignment in Libya to report on the border region with Tunisia. They were abducted on Sept. 3 and released on Sept. 7 following the intervention of Tunisia's ambassador to Libya, but were abducted again the following day. Reporters Without Borders expressed concern about the two men shortly after their second abduction. "Like Chourabi and Ktari, many journalists have unfortunately been abducted in Libya since it descended into its current state of all-out security chaos. This is the latest in a grim series of acts of violence against media personnel," Barbara Neault, the group's bureau chief in Libya, said at the time.

Both First TV and the Tunisian government said they have not yet confirmed the deaths. "The journalists' execution have not yet been verified," Houssem Abbes, a First Secretary at the Embassy of Tunisia in Washington, D.C., told UPI. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said, was working to verify the information and was "in touch with our embassy in Libya." The claimed execution of the journalists comes a day after three armed men launched a deadly attack against the office of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris, killing 12.

Islamic State in Libya claims it killed 2 Tunisian reporters - UPI.com

See also:

Mexican police officers detained after journalist disappears
Jan. 8,`15 (UPI) --Moises Sanchez was abducted from his home.

Thirteen police officers in Medellin, Mexico, have been detained in an investigation of the Jan. 2 kidnapping of a newspaper journalist. Gunmen abducted Moises Sanchez, a social activist known for his coverage of drug-related violence for a Medellin newspaper, from his home. Over 30 people, the town's entire police force, was questioned about the disappearance. Sanchez was threatened by the mayor, his brother Juan Carlos Sanchez claims, although Mayor Omar Cruz denies the accusation.

Municipal police officers patrol Guanajuato, Mexico.

The town is in Veracruz state in eastern Mexico, where three journalists have been killed since 2011. Mexico's National Commission on human rights said 97 journalists have been killed in the country since 2010, and prosecutors announced forensic tests are being conducted on a body found in a village near Medellin to learn if it is that of Sanchez.

Sanchez's disappearance comes after municipal officers in Guerrero state admitted handing over 43 kidnapped students to a drug gang which, it is believed, killed them. The case is an example of what is presumed to be widespread complicity in Mexico between police and drug gangs.

Mexico police detained in journalist s disappearance - UPI.com