DIYARBAKIR, Turkey
Two British journalists held on terrorism charges have been released, while their Iraqi translator will remain under arrest in Turkey, Turkish judicial sources said on Thursday.
The British journalists, Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury, and their Iraqi translator, Mohammed Ismael Rasool, who all reportedly worked for the U.S.-based global media company, Vice News, were arrested in front of their hotel in Turkey’s southeast Diyarbakir province on Aug. 28.
Rasool, who police said was an international relations student at the Istanbul Fatih University, would remain under arrest after an alleged encryption system used by Daesh was found on his computer, the sources said.
The journalists were charged with "knowingly and willfully helping an armed terrorist organization without being a part of its hierarchical structure," sources said, without naming the organization that they allegedly aided.
Vice News on its website had denied all charges against the trio as “baseless and absurd”.
Tension is high in Turkey’s eastern parts as a conflict between Kurdish militants and police has escalated.
Since July 7, when a police officer was shot dead in the southeastern Siirt province, 72 members of the security forces have been killed in “Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attacks”.
The PKK is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S., and EU.
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