Mezopotamya (MA) news agency correspondent Mehmet Aslan was arrested at his apartment in Istanbul on 5 January and remanded in custody three days later for allegedly being “a member of a terrorist organization”.
The public prosecutor in Antalya has now brought charges against him. At the same time, the court decided that he will remain in jail. The indictment sanctioned the lack of press freedom in Turkey.
Aslan is accused for his articles published in the legal news agency. He is accused of spreading news about the hunger strike in prison and using the term “PKK chairman Abdullah Öcalan”. This is the “evidence” supporting the claim of him being “a member of a terrorist organization”.
In addition, Aslan is accused of using the word “exile” in a conversation with a family member of a prisoner and of “collecting information from family members of prisoners and passed it on to the press of a terrorist organization, thereby ensuring that provocative reports were spread.”
ANF’s report of Aslan’s arrest “evidence” of membership of a terrorist organization
The public prosecutor added that ANF’s report on Aslan’s arrest is also a clear indication of his membership of a “terrorist organization”. All messages that Aslan published were also classified as criminal offenses.
