Can Dündar faces life imprisonment

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Can Dündar faces life imprisonment for informing the public!

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been clamping down methodically on the media in Turkey for years, first as prime minister and now as president. The persecution of journalists across the political spectrum is growing in ferocity and includes arrests, threats and intimidation – all actions unworthy of a democracy.

His victims include Can Dündar, the editor-in-chief of the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, and Dündar’s Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gül, who were jailed on the evening of 26 November for publishing evidence in May 2015 of arms deliveries by the Turkish intelligence services to Islamist groups in
Syria.

Both are exemplars of journalism, the search for truth and the defence of freedoms. Cumhuriyet was awarded the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Prize in the media category in 2015.

“Dündar will pay for this” President Erdogan said in a public statement, referring to the story on arms deliveries. But Cumhuriyet’s journalists just did their job, publishing information in the public interest. At a time when jihadism is at the centre of everyone’s concerns, it is unacceptable that political prosecutions are used to suppress investigative reporting.

As a result of an energetic campaign both in Turkey and internationally, Dündar and Gül were freed on 25 February, after the Constitutional Court ruled that their provisional detention violated their fundamental rights. The campaign has borne fruit but it cannot stop here. They are still facing possible life sentences (with no provision for a pardon) on charges of spying and complicity in terrorism.

The trial will begin on 25 March. RSF will be there, at the side of these two information heroes.

Together, public figures, citizens, media freedom NGOs and unions, let us send a strong message to President Erdogan. Let us call on him to drop all charges against Dündar and Gül.

Let us call on institutions and governments to accept their duty to respond to the Erdogan regime’s increasingly authoritarian excesses.

Let us urge the Turkish authorities to free all journalists who are detained in connection with their reporting or the opinions they have expressed, and let us take a stand against the flagrant degradation of media freedom in Turkey.

Premiers signataires

RSFReporters sans frontières
CPJComité de protection des journalistes
PEN International
IPIInternational Press Institute
WAN­IFRAssociation mondiale des journaux
Index on Censorship
WPFCWorld Press Freedom Comittee
FIJFédération internationale des journalistes
FEJFédération européenne des journalistes
EJNEthical Journalism Network
GENGlobal Editors Network
TGCAssociation des journalistes de Turquie
TGSUnion des journalistes de Turquie
DISK Basin­İşsss
AEJAssociation des journalistes européens
Günter WallraffJournaliste, Allemagne
Noam ChomskyLinguiste, Etats­-Unis
Edgar MorinSociologue, France
Carl BernsteinJournaliste, Etats­-Unis
Zülfü LivaneliÉcrivain, Turquie
Ali DilemCaricaturiste, Algérie
Thomas PikettyÉconomiste, France
Claudia RothFemme politique, Allemagne
Paul SteigerJournaliste, Etats­-Unis
Kamel LabidiJournaliste, Tunisie
John R McArthurDirigeant de médias, Etats-­Unis
Fazil SayPianiste, Turquie
Peter PriceDirigeant de médias, Etats-­Unis
Edwy PlenelDirigeant de médias, France
Jim HoaglandJournaliste, Etats-­Unis
Ahmet İnselPolitologue, Turquie
Eric CholDirecteur de rédaction, France
Nedim GürselÉcrivain, Turquie
Cem ÖzdemirCo­président du Parti Vert, Allemagne
Hakan GündayÉcrivain, Turquie
Mikis TheodorakisCompositeur, Grèce
Dmitry MouratovJournaliste, Russie
Per WestbergÉcrivain, Suède
Louise BelfrageJournaliste, Suède
Ali AnouzlaJournaliste, Maroc
John HughesJournaliste, Etats-­Unis
Omar BellouchetJournaliste, Algérie
Jack LangAncien ministre, France
Omar BrouksyJournaliste, Maroc
Pierre HaskiJournaliste, France
James SchwabDirigeant de médias, Etats-­Unis
Jay WeissbergCritique de cinéma, Etats-­Unis
Harald StanghelleDirecteur de rédaction, Norvège
Jean DanielJournaliste, France
Khadija RyadiMilitante des droits de l’homme, Maroc
Mokhtar TrifiMilitant des droits de l’homme, Tunisie
Maati MonjibHistorien, Maroc
Nadia SalahDirectrice de rédaction, Maroc
Gilles RaymondDirigeant de médias, France
Bertrand PecquerieDirigeant d’organisation, France
James SchwabDirigeant de médias, Etats-Unis
John HughesJournaliste, Etats-­Unis
Margie OrfordPrésident de PEN Afrique du Sud
Mandla LangaVice-Président Exécutif de PEN Afrique du Sud
Raymond LouwVice-Président de PEN Afrique du Sud
Publié le
Mis à jour le 17.05.2016