100 Days in Prison and a Lawyer Shot Dead: Turkey Still Won’t Let Our Journalist Go
Dec 7, 2015 — By Jake Hanrahan for @vicenews
December 5 was Rasool’s hundredth day behind bars. He is seemingly no closer to being released, or even sent to trial, than he was when Phil and I had to leave him behind some 89 days ago. Rasool is caught in a state of limbo. Turkish authorities say they’re still investigating — an investigation that has gone on for one hundred days with no progress or end in sight. And things are getting worse.
One week ago today, our lead lawyer, Tahir Elci, was shot dead in Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey. He’d been giving a press conference in the Sur neighborhood, calling for peace between Turkey and the PKK. His last words before a bullet struck him in the head were, “We don’t want guns, clashes [or] operations in this region.”
Tahir was 49. He leaves behind a wife, a daughter, and a son. I watched his funeral on the television. One of his daughters, Nazenin, screamed “Bavo ez bimrim!” (Let me die dad!), as she walked with his coffin. Thousands of people walked behind her, all showing their respect for Tahir and his lifelong dedication to human rights.