KurdistanObserver.com

Two Kurdish Reporters Accused Of making Fire-Bombs Face Life Imprisonment

Mar 8, 2006

Reporters Without Borders said today it was very concerned about two women journalists of the pro-Kurdish news agency DIHA, Evrim Dengiz and Nesrin Yazar, accused by police of making fire-bombs allegedly found in their car. They face life imprisonment.

Their car was stopped by anti-terrorist police in Mersin (300 km south of Ankara) on 15 February after they had covered a demonstration marking the seventh anniversary of the detention of Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Öcalan, head of the of PKK/Kongra-Gel party.

They were taken away from the car while it was searched, after which a policeman said he had found fire-bombs in it and accused them of making them for the demonstration. They were arrested and a judge later declared the case secret and the Mersin prosecutor called for life imprisonment under article 302-1 of the criminal code for “undermining the unity or independence of the state and nation.” The article excludes any possibility of amnesty.

“We are very concerned at the accusations against them and the harsh sentence proposed,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The circumstances of their arrest are very confused and do not clearly establish their guilt. The legal authorities must make every effort to determine the origin of the firebombs, the only evidence against them. The judge has hastily declared the matter secret and is blocking all openness.”

Dengiz and Yazar were interrogated for two days before being jailed on 17 February at the request of the Mersin prosecutor. Because of the secrecy, their lawyers have no access to the case-files, preventing them from preparing an adequate defence.

A member of the Human Rights Association of Turkey (IHD) said Yazar had earlier been threatened by police who demanded that she stop working for DHA and said she would be punished if she did not.