Readers of Alınteri Newspapers Arrested

Serdar Ben and Mürüvvet Küçük, readers of the Alınteri newspaper, and their friend Ulaş Ömür were taken into police custody on Thursday (17 March) and arrested five days later under allegations of "membership in an illegal organization".

The Alınteri ('Effort') newspaper focuses on news and articles of the agenda of the working class. Editor-in-Chief Esra Çakmak read out a press release at the Istanbul Branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD). She said it was incomprehensible to keep the three persons in custody for five days.

Ben, Küçük and Ömür had been taken into custody in the course of a General Information Gathering (GBT) control while they were sitting in a café last Thursday.

According to the announcement, the employees of the Alınteri newspaper were not able to find out the reasons why their friends had been kept in custody for five days.

"The court arrested them based on the intangible allegation of 'membership in an illegal organization' despite a lack of evidence and any element of crime". The arrests were seen as the continuation of the practices of the closed State Security Courts (DGM). (NV/EÖ/VK)