GENEVA, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and human rights commissioner Zeid should urgently protest Turkey's arrest today of journalist and human rights defender Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a possible act of reprisal for his human rights advocacy including his recent visit to the UN Human Rights Council to testify about human rights violations by the Turkish government, said UN Watch, a Geneva based non-governmental human rights group.
As reported in the media, Cengiz and his wife Sibel Hurtas, also a journalist, were detained today at Istanbul's Atatruk airport, while about to board a flight to London to attend a conference. Hurtas has since been released.
