Amnesty International welcomes decision on Pamuk
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Amnesty International said on Monday that it welcomed news of the case against Orhan Pamuk being dropped. The statement which outlined the case against Pamuk, and explained that the writer was facing charges under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code read, ''Sisli Court of First Instance No. 2 was awaiting the authorization of the Ministry of Justice to proceed with the case, but reportedly threw it out after the Ministry wrote to the court declaring itself legally incompetent to intervene,'' it said.
''The Amnesty International opposes Article 301 on the grounds that it poses a serious threat to the right to freedom of expression, which the Turkish authorities have a legal duty to uphold. The organization analyzed the article and detailed its concerns about the cases against Orhan Pamuk and others in a statement on December 9th, 2005. The organization's concerns regarding the breadth of this article and its potential for arbitrary interpretation remain in spite of Orhan Pamuk's case being dropped. In fact, the Amnesty International considers that Orhan Pamuk's high profile drew attention to the deficiencies of Article 301, and now fears that the cases of other individuals prosecuted under the same article may continue in relative obscurity,'' it said.