A Dutch journalist who was detained last week in a mainly Kurdish town along with a group of peace activists faces deportation from Turkey, the country's state-run news agency reported Wednesday, as a media freedom groups called on the country to release another journalist who remains jailed.
Dutch freelance journalist Frederike Geerdink was taken into custody on Sunday in the town of Yuksekova along with a group of "human shield" protesters attempting to stop violence between Turkey's security forces and Kurdish rebels. She has since been released from custody but now faces deportation, the Anadolu Agency reported.
Authorities said Geerdink and the group of some 30 activists had illegally entered a restricted zone and were engaged in an act that helped a terrorist organization. Media rights groups have denounced her detention as a government crackdown on journalists reporting on the renewed conflict that has killed more than 200 people - mostly police and soldiers — since July.
Geerdink would be the third foreign journalist to be deported after reporting from the Kurdish regions this month. Two British journalists for Vice News who were jailed on terror-related charges were expelled last week. Their Turkey-based assistant, Mohammed Ismael Rasool, is still jailed pending an investigation.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday expressed concern over Rasool's continued detention and the proceedings against Geerdink.
"The situation for journalists covering southeast Turkey is growing increasingly problematic," said Robert Mahoney, CPJ's deputy director. "The government must allow journalists to work freely throughout the country."
"A first step toward that would be to free Mohammed Ismael Rasool immediately and to allow Frederike Geerdink to continue doing her work," he said.
It was the second time that Geerdink, who reports mainly on Kurdish issues, had been taken into custody in Turkey. She was briefly detained in January and was acquitted of charges of engaging in propaganda on behalf of the Kurdish rebels in April.
Amnesty International Turkey Researcher Andrew Gardner said Geerdink has long been "a thorn in the side of Turkish authorities for her coverage of Kurdish issues.
Gardner, who has also called for Rasool's release, said Turkey's actions "appear to be a continuation of Turkey's campaign to silence critical journalists."
Rasool, 24, was detained in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on Aug. 27 while assisting Vice News correspondent Jake Hanrahan and cameraman Philip Pendlebury. Based in Turkey but of Iraqi Kurdish origin, Rasool has worked for a number of media organizations, including The Associated Press and Al-Jazeera.
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