Turkey arrested a journalist after he announced details of an information leak on Twitter, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Freelance journalist İbrahim Haskoloğlu was detained for “illegally obtaining and disseminating personal information due to his social media posts,” Reuters said, citing Emrah Karatay, the journalist’s lawyer.
Haskoloğlu, who is now facing trial, posted comments on Twitter on April 12 saying that two months ago hackers shared some personal information they had stolen from government websites with him, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ID card.
Haskoloğlu also published the image of the purported ID card of Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MİT).
“The reason for his formal arrest was that he did not notify prosecutors,” Karatay said.
On April 13, the journalist made another announcement via his social media that he already informed various authorities about the leak but no action was taken.
“He thought he had to warn people as a journalist and posted these. Now he’s arrested – that’s all,” Karatay said.
Police searched Haskoloğlu’s home during his detention on Monday night, the lawyer said.
An Istanbul prosecutor’s office ordered the arrest following a criminal complaint filed by the Interior Ministry, NTV reported on Wednesday.
Turkey is among the world’s top jailers of journalists and writers along with China
and Saudi Arabia. It has been ranked “not free” by Freedom House, an organisation researching democracy and human rights, for six consecutive years.
Ahval