News Center- Nafiye Bal, one of the editors of the Kurdish newspaper Xwebûn, was detained  in a raid on her home on Monday (October 23) afternoon as part of an investigation launched in 21 cities on April 25 over the statements of a witness named Ümit Akbıyık. Today, she was referred to the Diyarbakır Courthouse. She has been released under judicial control and banned from travelling abroad by the Diyarbakır Criminal Court of Peace.

At the Diyarbakır Provincial Police Department, journalist Nafiye Bal was asked her code name, if she had any connection with a terrorist organization, if she had organized any action on behalf of the organization and from whom she had received instructions. “I have no connection with a terrorist organization. I use no code name. Since I did not take any action on behalf of the organization, I did receive no instructions from anyone,” she answered the questions.

Police officers also showed her the photographs of Ümit Akbıyık and asked her, “Do you know this person, who is a member of the organization? If you know him, do you have any organizational connection or contact with him?”

“I know this person as Ümit Akbıyık. I saw this person for the first time in the building of the HDP when he was a member of the HDP Youth Assembly during the local elections in 2019. Then, I interviewed him to write an article about the Say No to Drugs Campaign.”

Journalist Nafiye Bal was welcomed by Dicle Fırat Journalists’ Association (DFG) Co-chair Serdar Altan and employees of the Kurdish newspaper Xwebûn in front of the courthouse. 

For more info: https://jinhaagency1.com/en/actual/journalist-nafiye-bal-detained-34039