Location: Turkey, Diyarbakir
Date: January 8, 2020

Available in: 🇹🇷 Türkçe

We are glad that our colleague journalist Arjin Dilek Öncel has been acquitted by a Diyarbakir court today. Had she been convicted, Arjin would have faced between 1.5 and seven years in prison. Her crime? A tweet.

We welcome the court’s decision to absolve her of all charges. Arjin was targeted not for an actual crime but only for retweeting a news item. Her charges fit a pattern that we have time and again observed in Turkey, where women journalists are labelled terrorists and then thrown into prison based on flimsy evidence.

Speaking in her defence, Arjin said that she was being targeted for retweeting a tweet from the news agency where she had worked for five years. “This was purely for informing people. There was no propaganda and it was not blood and thunder. It is a post which was shared within the boundaries of reporting. It was news about the rescue of Raqqa civilians,” she explained.

Her lawyer Resul Tamur noted that the news item in question had been covered by several other outlets as well. He said that the post was within the scope of freedom of information and expression and asked: “Why is there no investigation into journalists working in well-known newspapers for similar reports?”

Resul said that the charges were an attempt to deliberately find a criminal element when there was none.

Arjin’s case is not unique — Turkish authorities have a history of using anything they can find to charge journalists as a ploy to silence them.

While we welcome the decision of the court, we find it important to note that crackdowns against journalists have not calmed in recent times. CFWIJ data shows that Turkey was one of the top jailers of women journalists in 2019, and accounted for almost half the women imprisoned during the year.

We urge authorities to act responsibly. Journalists cannot be targeted because of their posts on social media. Freedom of the press cannot be ensured in this environment. For a truly free press, all media outlets, including pro-Kurdish outlets, must be allowed to operate freely. ... The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world, and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.

Follow us on Instagram @womeninjournalism and Twitter @CFWIJ. Our website is WomenInJournalism.org and we can be reached at press@womeninjournalism.org

The Coalition For Women In Journalism closely monitors the incidents in Turkey with great concern. Since March 8, Women's Day, police violence against women journalists increasingly continues in the country. As the coalition, we urge the Turkish state to provide a free environment for journalists. Following the news is our most fundamental democratic right to report. We demand the immediate release of our detained colleagues. Journalism is not a crime. Journalism cannot be prevented.

If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.