In Prison for a Painting

By from Barnes - 17/05/19 - People, World

On the 3rd of May, it was Word Press Freedom Day.

Around the world, hundreds of journalists are imprisoned for writing stories. The highest number is in Turkey. Zehra Doğan, a Kurdish journalist and painter, was taken to court and sentenced to be in prison for nearly three years for doing artwork of the Turkish military forces destroying Nusaybin,Turkey. Luckily, her story gained worldwide attention in 2018 after others drew a mural calling for her release. In jail, Zehra secretly published a newspaper and created materials to paint.

Now released, she is determined to continue sharing stories and drawing pictures. Doğan is an artist and journalist from Diyarbakir, Turkey. She is the founder and editor of Jinha, a unique Kurdish news site with a female-only staff. In a now deleted tweet, Doğan wrote, “I was given two years and 10 months in prison only because I painted Turkish flags on destroyed buildings. However, the Turkish government caused this. I only painted it.” She also wrote,“This painting was worth my time in prison because I managed to show the reality of  Nusaybin.”

Since her release, lots of twitter users have shown their friendship accompanied by hashtags like #TurkeyCrackdown, #TerroristTurkey, and #FreeTurkeyMedia.

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From: Barnes

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