The access ban on social media platforms, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook due to news articles and photographs about Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz killed after being held hostage in Istanbul Çağlayan Courthouse has been taken to court.
Istanbul Bilgi University School of Law faculty member Professor Yaman Akdeniz and Ankara University School of Law faculty member Kerem Altıparmak reported that they object to İstanbul 1st Criminal Judge of Peace Bekir Altun’s imposition of a URL based broadcast ban on 166 news articles.
In the file the two academicians took to court yesterday (7 April) were the decision of Istanbul 8th Criminal Judicature of Peace for a general block and the proposed decision of İstanbul 6th Criminal Judicature of Peace to place an access ban on Google.com.
Bihr: An unbridled censorship approach
Experiencing the internet bans in Turkey, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Eastern Europe and Central Asia Office representative Johann Bihr opined that setting out to completely close Internet platforms because of a few pages of content was “an unbridled censorship approach” and as such violated constitutional principles about freedom of expression.
“Is this where Turkey belongs?”
“The most oppressive countries in the world such as China and Iran resort to these practices. Does Turkey feel it belongs to this narrow assemblage of countries?” Bihr inquired.
Sözeri: 52 Twitter accounts were affected
Tweets and YouTube posts from 166 specified URL’s were also banned. Efe Kerem Sözeri who contributes informatics articles to bianet shared that the number of deleted tweets from his 52 blocked Twitter accounts was 10. He had declared that among the deleted tweets were posts by news sites Hürriyet, Milliyet and T24.
Istanbul 6th Criminal Judicature of Peace had ruled for the removal of similar content from Google, or else for the denial of access. However this was no longer necessary when Google blocked access to the content in question. (EÖ/PU)
* Click here to read the article in Turkish.
