The International Press Institute (IPI) launched an international signature campaign for detained journalist Nedim Şener. The IPI aims at collecting 10,000 signatures.
On the 60th anniversary of the organization in 2010, the IPI rewarded Şener as one of 60 World Press Freedom Heroes alive added to the IPI "List of World Press Freedom Heroes". The organization also called on the people to support Şener by writing letters.
Both IPI campaigns on behalf of journalist Şener focus on drawing attention to all journalists imprisoned in Turkey.
"He understood the peril faced by journalists in Turkey"
The following letter was published in the internet and sent to the "world press freedom heroes" and IPI members in more than a hundred countries:
"I was ready to pay the price to reveal the truth." When Turkish author, investigative reporter, and International Press Institute (IPI) World Press Freedom Hero Nedim Şener published his 2007 book on the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, he understood the peril faced by journalists in Turkey.
Mr. Şener is now paying that price. Last week, he spent his 250th day in prison, though he has not been convicted of any crime. Next week, on 22 November, he is scheduled to face a first hearing on apparently baseless charges that he belongs to an armed terrorist group.
This March, Mr. Şener was arrested and accused of being part of the so-called Ergenekon plot, in which an alleged clandestine ultra-nationalist organisation with ties to military and security forces is said to have plotted to use terrorism to overthrow the government. The investigation against Mr. Şener is being carried out by the same law-enforcement figures whom he accused of neglect in his book on Hrant Dink.
Mr. Şener's case is the Turkish government's latest salvo in its assault on press freedom. By the government's own admission, at least 50 other journalists are behind bars in the country, making Turkey one of the world's leading jailers of journalists.
In a 26 October letter to IPI, Mr. Şener wrote, "At the end of the day, the indictment and its appendix show that the prosecution's only charge against me is journalism. Therefore, it is journalism that will be tried in court." He resolved to fight for the pursuit of truth "until the end of my life".
No journalist should be imprisoned for reporting the truth. That Mr. Şener sits behind bars is a tragedy and casts a dark shadow over Turkey's professed commitment to an open and democratic society.
IPI stands with Mr. Şener and is fighting to do all it can to free him and all others who are in jail for practising journalism. IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said of Mr. Şener, "I want him to know that neither I nor IPI will rest until we are able to see him face-to-face, no bars in sight." (AS)
Source: change.org
Click here to sing the campaign.
