Turkey deports two VICE News journalists arrested in south

ISTANBUL

Two British journalists working for VICE News, who were released from a prison in southern Turkey to which they were sent after being arrested on alleged terror charges in late August, have been deported, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Correspondent Jake Hanrahan and cameraman Philip Pendlebury were reportedly deported by the Adana Provincial Migration Management Directorate to Germany, a week after the two were arrested for allegedly providing aid to terrorist organizations in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

Hanrahan and Pendlebury returned to the U.K. after being released, the U.S-based media outlet VICE said on Sept. 6, Agence France-Presse reported.

“VICE News is pleased to confirm two of our journalists, Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury, have been released from a Turkish prison and have returned to the U.K.,” it said in a statement.

“Both are in good health and spirits, but they - and everyone else at VICE News - remain extremely concerned for our third colleague, Mohammed Ismael Rasool, who is still being held,” it said.   

Hanrahan, Pendlebury and their Iraqi colleague Rasool were detained in Diyarbakır on Aug. 27 and sent to Adana Kürtçüler Prison after a court charged them with “having links to terrorist organizations.”

Pendlebury and Hanrahan were then released following a court ruling issued by a Diyarbakır court on Sept. 3, while Rasool, a translator working for VICE News, was reported to be still under arrest.

After being released from prison, the two journalists were first taken to the Adana Public Hospital for a health check-up and then to the provincial migration management directorate in Adana.

Meanwhile, a Diyarbakır-based Dutch journalist Frederike Geerdink remains in custody in the southeastern province of Hakkari, according to a written statement issued by the Hakkari Governor’s Office on Sept. 6.

As many as 32 people, including Geerdink, were detained at around 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 5 for “providing help to armed terrorist organizations” in Hakkari’s Yüksekova district, it stated, adding that the detention time for the 32 people had been extended on Sept. 6.