28 June 2018•Update: 28 June 2018
By Asat Firat
JERUSALEM
An Israeli military court on Thursday extended the detention of Ebru Ozkan, a 27-year-old Turkish national who was detained at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on June 11, a legal source said.
According to Omar Khamaysa, Ozkan’s lawyer, the decision means that his client will remain in detention until July 1.
“Israel’s Ofer Military Court in the occupied West Bank rejected my client’s release request,” Khamaysa told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.
He added that he had recently met with Ozkan, who, he said, remained in “high spirits” despite her detention.
“She has not been subject to any physical intimidation while in custody,” the lawyer said.
According to Khamaysa, Ozkan was arrested on charges of “threatening Israel’s security and having links with terrorist groups” -- allegations she strenuously denies.
Ozkan is not the first Turkish citizen to have been recently detained by the Israeli authorities.
In January, Osman Hazir, a 46-year-old Turkish national, was arrested for snapping a selfie at East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque while holding a Turkish flag.
And last December, Israel arrested two other Turks -- Abdullah Kizilirmak and Mehmet Gargili -- after the pair had quarreled with Israeli police who had tried to bar them from entering the flashpoint holy site.
In the same month, Adem Koc, another Turkish national, was arrested inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for allegedly “disturbing the peace and taking part in an illegal demonstration”.
Kizilirmak, Gargili and Koc were all subsequently released on bail.
