https://ahvalnews.com-Over 25 journalism organisations and human rights groups from around the world on Tuesday issued a joint statement urging the release of Turkish journalist Sedef Kabaş,who remains in pre-trial detention on charges of insulting the president.
Kabaş was arrested at her home in Istanbul during a police raid last month over statements she made during a television broadcast.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed that the journalists’ “crime” of insulting him, which carries a maximum prison sentence of four years, according to Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), would not go unpunished.
Tuesday’s joint statement, signed by the likes of the International Press Institute (IPI), the Association of European Journalists (AEJ), Index on Censorship, among others, called for the immediate release of Kabaş along with other journalists who remain in police custody.
The statement recalled a ruling by, the European Court of Human Rights last October that the offence of insulting the president under Turkish criminal law was incompatible with freedom of expression.
“The court also found no justification for the imposition of police custody or a criminal sanction in the case before the court, which involved an individual who posted critical content about Erdoğan on Facebook,” it added.
Investigations and convictions under Article 299 have catapulted since Erdoğan stepped into office as president in 2014. Lawsuits over the crime of insulting the president have increased by 9,000 percent since 2010, according to a 2021 report based on Justice Ministry data.
Turkey was “the biggest jailer of journalists in the world” in 2020 with at least 67 media workers behind bars, the union International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said in a report issued in March of last year.
Turkey’s mainstream media had been “effectively eradicated” following the failed coup attempt of 2016 and the subsequent government crackdown, according the 2021 report of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).