The detention of a group of human rights defenders in Turkey for daring to learn about digital security and encryption continued last week with a brief appearance of the accused in an Istanbul court. Six were returned to jail, and four released on bail. In an additionally absurd twist, the four released activists were named in new detention orders on Friday, and are now being re-arrested.
Among those currently being held in jail are Ali Gharavi and Peter Steudtner, digital security trainers from Sweden and Germany, who had traveled to Turkey to provide online privacy advice for a conference of human rights defenders. The meeting was raided by Turkish police on July 5, and appears to be the sole basis for the prosecution.
Trial is seen as attempt to intimidate media in government crackdown after last year’s failed coup
A court in Istanbul has ordered the release of seven journalists from Turkey’s oldest newspaper, Cumhuriyet, after nine months in prison and preliminary hearings in the country’s largest trial of journalists since last year’s coup attempt.
Istanbul court relases seven Cumhuriyet journalists, executives, five to remain under arrest
The trial has started in Istanbul for Cumhuriyet journalists and administrators, accused of terrorism. The voices from the courtroom in the debate symbol of the concerning state of relationships between journalism and power in Turkey
Vía Erkan’s Field Diary http://ift.tt/2vfdRd9
Erkan's Field Diary 