A judge orders the imprisonment of seven journalists including an AFP photographer – Liberation

A Turkish judge ordered Tuesday the placement in pre-trial detention of seven journalists, including the photographer of the France-Presse agency, Yasin Akgül, accused by the authorities of having participated in an illegal rally, his lawyer told AFP.

The journalist, whose lawyer announced his intention to appeal from the decision, argued during his hearing that he was only covering the demonstration in support of the imprisoned mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu And main rival of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which he is accused of having taken part. Yasin Akgül, AFP employee, was arrested at dawn on Monday at his home, at the same time as nine other journalists in Istanbul and Izmir (west), the third city in the country. A prosecutor of Istanbul requested on Tuesday the placement in detention of seven of them, according to one of their lawyers.

« It is the first time that a journalist clearly identified as such, in the exercise of his functions, has been sent to detention on the basis of this law against gatherings and demonstrations. This scandalous decision reflects a serious situation in progress in Türkiye ”told AFP Erol Onderoglu, representative of the NGO Reporters Without Borders in Türkiye.

The leader of the People’s Republican Party (CHP, Social Democrat), the main opposition force to which the imprisoned mayor of Istanbul belongs, called for a new rally on Tuesday evening. For its part, the governorate of Ankara has decided to extend the ban on demonstrating until April 1. More than 1,400 people have been arrested since the start of the demonstrations. Among them, 979 demonstrators were in police custody Tuesday, while 478 people had been referred to courts, the Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced.