Vice News Journalists Jake Hanrahan And Philip Pendlebury To Be Freed

Vice News Journalists Jake Hanrahan And Philip Pendlebury To Be Freed

Two British journalists arrested in Turkey on terror charges are being released, Amnesty International has said.

Vice News correspondent Jake Hanrahan and cameraman Philip Pendlebury were arrested while filming in the south-east region of Diyarbakir.

Both men were charged on Monday accused of "working on behalf of a terrorist organisation" and allegedly with "assisting Islamic State" (Isis).

According to Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International's researcher on Turkey, Vice News has confirmed that the journalists will be released from prison tomorrow.

The charity had previously said the charges were another example of the Turkish authorities "suppressing the reporting of stories that are embarrassing to them".

They were detained along with a Turkish colleague while filming clashes between police and youth members of the pro-Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) last Thursday.

Earlier, Mr Pendlebury's sister, Alex Pendlebury, dismissed the accusations against the 30-year-old as "ridiculous".

She told ITV Granada News: "It's just like a nightmare, it doesn't feel real.

"In my head I think 'Yeah, they will come home but it's just a case of when', but it's like 'Is it going to be in months or is it going to be in years?' - you don't know what the timeframe is. You just sit and wait, that's all it is - a waiting game."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said Britain expected Turkey to uphold its obligations with regard to freedom of expression under international agreements.

"Respect for freedom of expression and the right of media to operate without restriction are fundamental in any democratic society," she said.

"Turkey is a state party to the European Convention on Human Rights and UN Declaration of Human Rights. We would expect the Turkish authorities to uphold the obligations enshrined in those agreements."

Mr Pendlebury has filmed in countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea, while Mr Hanrahan has also written for The Guardian, the Independent, Wired, and Rolling Stone Middle East.

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