Short news

Turkey: an open call to release the Kurdish journalist Nedim Türfent

16/06/2020

Together with more than 40 ngos, we call to the Turkish authorities to free Kurdish journalist Nedim Türfent, who is in jail since May 2016 for false allegations of "terrorism": his only fault was to report on Kurdish issues and on the abuses of Turkish special forces. After almost 1500 days of detention, we invite everybody to sign this call

Jail and defamation: an international call to the Italian Constitutional Court

05/06/2020

An historical decision is awaiting journalists and Parliament on June 9th: the Constitutional Court is deciding if prison is a legitimate punishment for defamation. And Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners consider this a crucial first step forward

Project Gutenberg blocked in Italy: many doubts, few certainties

27/05/2020

The popular website that publishes books in public domain has been blocked in Italy, perhaps confused with those that illegally distribute newspapers in PDF. A brief recap

Journalists and media workers need to be protected when covering demonstrations and protests

11/05/2020

Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners are concerned about the increased violence against media professionals at protests and demonstrations across EU Member States and Candidate Countries in the last months and call for increased protection

Turkey: 24 rights groups call for release of all those arbitrarily detained, now at risk of Covid-19

21/04/2020

The Turkish government continues to ignore international voices calling for justice and respect of human rights, and has excluded human rights defenders, journalists and politicians from the benefits of the recent law that allows 90,000 prisoners to go home. Together with other 23 international groups, OBCT urges the authorities to move now to prevent a humanitarian disaster.

Here the full text of the call we signed

Open letter: the EU must not sit idly by while a Member State’s democracy is in jeopardy

20/04/2020

OBCT joined other over 80 MEPs and civil society groups in signing a letter sent to the presidents of the European Commission and Council: we call on European institutions to condemn every measure abusing the emergency situation to dismantle democracy and silence civil society. Here the text of the letter

Turkey: Rights groups call for urgent release of imprisoned journalists, human rights defenders and others, now at risk of Covid-19

31/03/2020

Together with other human rights groups and organizations, OBCT calls on the Turkish government to include journalists and human rights defenders in the release of thousands of prisoners from overcrowded prisons: the novelist Ahmet Altan and the businessman Osman Kavala are among those who would not be released as they are detained for terrorism related crimes

Media and COVID-19: the risk of restrictions on media freedom

24/03/2020

The Council of Europe and media freedom international organisations call on European States to defend independent journalistic work and not to exploit the Coronavirus crisis to further limit free access to information

COVID-19: no one is safe until all are protected!

19/03/2020

Dozens of activists from South Eastern European countries, under the name of "Transbalkan Solidarity Group", have launched an appeal to the European Union, the Commission, the governments of EU member states and the Balkan countries, in order to safeguard refugees and migrants without any discrimination or esclusion

Turkey, an international call to end advertising ban on Evrensel

16/03/2020

Together with other 23 international media freedom organisations, OBCT calls on the General Director of BIK to swiftly lift the advertising ban currently imposed on Evrensel, an independent newspaper now risking an economic collapse. Here the text of the call