The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, journalists and media executives for press freedom, condemned today the arrest of journalist Sinan Aygül in connection with his reporting on a sexual abuse case in the eastern Turkish city of Bitlis. We call on Turkish authorities to release Aygül without delay.
On December 13, Aygül, who is the president of the Bitlis Journalists Association published a report on a sexual abuse case involving a 14-year-old girl in Tatvan district of Bitlis. The report stated that three police officers and a sergeant are suspects in the case. Later, the governor of Bitlis, Oktay Çağatay, contacted Aygül and asked him to correct information regarding the suspects in his report. On the same day, Aygül published a follow-up statement on his Twitter account saying that the governor had called him and that, although he had made his best effort to double-check the facts before publishing, he was now correcting some of the information, and apologized for any misunderstanding.
The next day, Aygül was detained by police on charges of “publishing misleading information” due to the news report.
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