ISTANBUL: Journalists and staff from a Turkish newspaper staunchly opposed to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are going on trial in Istanbul, accused of aiding terror organizations — a case that has added to concerns over rights and freedoms in Turkey.
Seventeen of the defendants, including Cumhuriyet’s editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, investigative journalist Ahmet Sik, commentator Kadri Gursel and cartoonist Musa Kart were set to appear in court on Monday, on charges of sponsoring several outlawed organizations, including Kurdish militants, a far-left group and the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who is blamed for last year’s failed coup.
Two other defendants are being tried in absentia.
Their arrests were part of a widespread crackdown in the wake of the coup, which has led to the imprisonment of more than 50,000 people.
Turkish opposition journalists on trial for aiding ‘terror’
Turkish opposition journalists on trial for aiding ‘terror’
UN chief says those behind ‘unacceptable’ Homs attack must face justice
- France says the "terror" attack is designed to destabilize the country
UNITED NATIONS/PARIS: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the deadly attack on Friday prayers at a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs, and said the perpetrators should be brought to justice.
“The Secretary-General reiterates that attacks against civilians and places of worship are unacceptable. He stresses that those responsible must be identified and brought to justice,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
The explosion killed at least eight worshippers at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Homs, with an Islamist militant group claiming responsibility.
France also condemned the attack, calling it an “act of terrorism” designed to destabilize the country.
The attack “is part of a deliberate strategy aimed at destabilizing Syria and the transition government,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
It condemned what it said was an attempt to “compromise ongoing efforts to bring peace and stability.”
The attack, during Friday prayers, was the second blast in a place of worship since Islamist authorities took power a year ago, after a suicide bombing in a Damascus church killed 25 people in June.
In a statement on Telegram, the extremist group Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna said its fighters “detonated a number of explosive devices” in the Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the central Syrian city.
