Court arrests 2 British journalists with alleged links to ISIS

A Turkish court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of two U.K.-based Vice News journalists on charges of alleged links with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) terrorist organization. British journalists Jake Hanrahan and Philip John Pendlebury, along with their translator Mohammed Ismael Rasool, have been in detention since late Thursday and were put on remand by the Second Criminal Court in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. According to information obtained by Daily Sabah, the court's decision reflected the Diyarbakır police's concerns about multiple contradictions in the defendants' testimonies and the discovery of a military-grade encryption system on one of the suspect's personal computer, whose contents he has refused to decrypt for official review.

According to cybersecurity experts, the encryption system discovered on the fixer's computer is commonly used by ISIS members, the sources said.

Stressing that Turkey has begun launching airstrikes in Syria as part of the anti-ISIS coalition and the organization has issued several threats against the country, sources said the authorities have no choice but to remain tough on terror suspects.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, replying to questions at a dinner in the Swiss city of Davos early this year, said to be realistic when accusing Turkey of arresting journalists and that no journalist in Turkey was arrested due to journalistic activities. "Those who alleged that journalists are imprisoned in Turkey should give me their names. These are judicial cases. As prime minister, I have no authority to arrest or release someone. It is the duty of the courts. You know that you cannot ask this kind of question of an EU minister since they do not have such authority. The same goes for Turkey, too."

Davutoğlu directly addressed the journalist who asked the question and said: "Please, give me the name of your journalist friend. I assure you that we will go to visit him or her together to show my support for journalism. I was a columnist in the 1990s and I know what media freedom means very well. Although I have no authority to arrest or detain someone, I would like to find out who is your journalist friend."

Davutoğlu said that all the accusations against Turkey are baseless and added: "Those who alleged that journalists are imprisoned in Turkey should give me their names. These are judicial cases. As prime minister, I have no authority to arrest or release someone. It is the duty of the courts. You know that you cannot ask this kind of question of an EU minister since they do not have such authority. The same goes for Turkey, too." Even though Turkey came under criticism with claims that there are dozens of journalists under arrest in the country, Turkish officials said that there are only seven journalists who have been arrested and the reason for their arrest is terrorist activities. Most journalists who were later released were allegedly arrested by Gülen Movement-linked judges and prosecutors and apart from those whose crimes were justified by Turkish courts were later released.