International
North Wind Picture Archives / AP
Two British journalists working for Vice News and an Iraqi fixer were arrested in Turkey's southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Monday, accused of "engaging in terror activity" on behalf of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The journalists were detained late last week while reporting from a city in Turkey's mostly Kurdish southeast. They were there to cover renewed fighting between the security forces and Kurdish rebels has killed scores of people.
A fourth suspect, their driver, was allowed to go free Monday.
The three have been taken to a jail in Diyarbakir ahead of an eventual trial. There were no further details over the evidence of their alleged links to ISIL.
They had earlier been questioned by prosecutors who ruled to take the case to court.
The four men, including the driver, had been held in police custody since their detention last week.
A Vice News spokesman confirmed that two of its journalists and their translator had been detained, calling the charges "baseless and alarmingly false." He said Vice News was working with authorities to secure their immediate release.
Turkish media identified the journalists as correspondent Jake Hanrahan and cameraman Philip Pendlebury.
The arrest of the journalists has created an outcry among media watchdogs.
"It is completely proper that that journalists should cover this important story," said Amnesty International in a statement. "The decision to detain the journalists was wrong, while the allegation of assisting Islamic State is unsubstantiated, outrageous and bizarre."
The Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ) called on Turkish authorities to release the journalists, saying press freedoms should be protected.
"The renewed clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish separatists in the volatile southeast are of public interest to both domestic and international audiences,"said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova. "Authorities ought to protect, not gag journalists on the job."
Reports said that they were arrested after police acted on a tipoff and confiscated the footage shot during their reporting. All have denied the accusations in the presence of their lawyers.
An official from the Diyarbakir governor's office said that the journalists were in custody at an anti-terrorism department for filming without first seeking "media accreditation" from Turkish authorities. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of rules that bar officials from speaking to journalists.
Al Jazeera with wire services
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