News Digest

Two British journalists accused of ‘helping terrorists’ are freed from jail

Two Vice News journalists who were arrested in Turkey on terror-related charges have been released from jail. Their assistant will remain jailed pending the conclusion of an investigation. The two British journalists, correspondent Jake Hanrahan and cameraman Philip Pendlebury, were detained last week in Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey’s mostly Kurdish southeast, after filming in a neighborhood where Kurdish youths frequently clash with Turkish security forces.

While we are grateful that they have been freed, we are deeply worried by reports that our other Vice News colleague, Mohammed Ismael Rasool, has had his appeal of release rejected by the Turkish government.

Vice News

Vice News is a New York-based news channel that produces documentaries, breaking news reports and investigative pieces. The arrests have prompted strong protests from media rights advocates, the U.S. and the European Union and amplified concerns over press freedom in the country. Scores of people have died since July in renewed fighting between Kurdish rebels and Turkey’s security forces.

Rasool is an experienced journalist and translator who has worked extensively across the Middle East with Vice News, Associated Press, and Al Jazeera. We call on the Turkish authorities for a swift end to this unjust detainment and to grant his immediate release.

Vice News