İsmet Çiğit is the General Publishing Director of the daily SES Kocaeli newspaper. However, he had no idea of a news item that was published on the internet version of his paper because he is only in charge of the printed paper. The news item reported that two people had died in a local hospital due to the coronavirus. News like this will cause a journalist to go to prison in Turkey these days.

The police detained, handcuffed and took İsmet Çiğit into custody for questioning at midnight in case he tried to flee.

The news, had appeared not on print but on the internet site, so, journalist Çiğit had no idea about what was published there. However, the police were having none of that. Under heavy security measures, the news director was taken away for questioning.

In the meantime, the manager and writer of the paper Güngör Aslan, hearing the detention rushed to the police station after midnight where Çiğit was being held and gave his deposition that Çiğit had nothing to do with the news, instead, he was the one responsible for the news that was published. After the chief editor Ahmet Serimer was also called to the station to testify, and all testimonies had been taken, Çiğit was allowed to go home.

Currently 24 people are under detention and 124 suspects are under investigation for posting on social media about coronavirus incidents. Turkish interior minister had warned that all social media posts would be scanned by the Turkish authorities to make sure that only the official truth would be heard and nothing else.

Sendika.org News (M.B.)