Imprisoned documentarian Sibel Tekin: “I am waiting for days of freedom”

Arti Gercek reports that documentary director, journalist, and academician Sibel Tekin, who was arrested on December 17 on the grounds of “terrorist organization membership” based on her documentary "Life Beginning in the Dark" about permanent daylight-saving time, sent a letter from the Sincan Women's Closed Prison where she is being held.

In her letter, Tekin thanked everyone who participated in the campaign organized by the Free Sibel Tekin campaign group on Twitter with the hashtag #SibelYanımdaydı during the first month of her detention. Expressing that she witnessed the solidarity between women and that she now had more hope compared to before, Tekin said, "I hope that my temporary presence here will end at the end of February, and I will continue to film on the streets with my camera. I am patiently waiting for free and fair days."

WHAT HAD HAPPENED?

Documentary director and journalist Sibel Tekin went to film in Ankara Tuzlucayir in the early hours of the morning for the documentary she had been working on about the implementation of permanent daylight-saving time on December 15, 2022. Alleging that she recorded the police station on the road with the service vehicle and the prison guards, Tekin’s home was raided, and she was arrested around 02:00 AM on December 16, 2022. During the police raid, Tekin's two computers, external disks containing her documentary works, her camera, and some books were confiscated.

The detention period of Tekin, who was expected to be released after being taken into custody, was extended due to the examination of her confiscated digital materials. After the police took her statement, the documentary was sent to court with a request for her arrest after 24 without her statement being taken the prosecutor's office. Tekin was arrested on December 17, 2022 on charges of "membership in a terrorist organization" following her interrogation at the 8th Criminal Court of Peace.

The indictment against Tekin was completed within 16 days after her arrest, and the prosecutor claimed that Tekin, by way of filming a documentary, was acting on the orders of the terrorist organization. Associating Tekin with many terrorist organizations unaffiliated with one another, the prosecutor demanded a sentence on the charge of "membership in a terrorist organization" without specifying of which specific organization the documentary director was a member. (NEWS CENTER)