Two Vice News journalists arrested in Turkey on charges of “aiding a terrorist organization” were released from prison but their Iraqi colleague remains in detention, the news organization said Thursday.
Reporter Jake Hanrahan and cameraman Philip Pendlebury, both British, were arrested last Friday in a Kurdish area of southeastern Turkey while filming clashes between security forces and Kurdish militants.
A Turkish court on Thursday freed the two but ruled to keep their Iraqi fixer in custody pending investigation, according to Reuters.
Vice News spokeswoman Meera Pattni said the organization was “grateful” Hanrahan and Pendlebury had been freed but was “deeply worried by reports that our other VICE News colleague, Mohammed Ismael Rasool, has had his appeal of release rejected” by Turkish authorities.
“Rasool is an experienced journalist and translator who has worked extensively across the Middle East with VICE News, Associated Press, and Al Jazeera,” Pattni said in a statement. “We call on the Turkish authorities for a swift end to this unjust detainment and to grant his immediate release.”
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