POLITICS
AZERTAC strongly condemns arrest of Anadolu Agency journalists in Cairo
Baku, January 16, AZERTAC
AZERTAC strongly condemns the Egyptian police raid to the Anadolu Agency’s Cairo office and arrest of the agency’s four employees on Tuesday evening, January 14.
“We express solidarity with the Anadolu Agency of Turkey, a friendly and fraternal country to Azerbaijan, and state that we are always standing by our Turkish counterparts. We do believe that the Egyptian police have grossly violated both human rights and freedom of speech and the press by this act, which runs counter to democratic principles,” AZERTAC said.
AZERTAC said it considered the Egyptian police's attitude towards Anadolu Agency journalists as unacceptable and called for the immediate release of the detained employees.
The Egyptian police raided Cairo office of Anadolu Agency and detained four employees on January 14, Tuesday evening. The employees were taken to an unknown destination. The police raided the office, shut down the security cameras, cut off the Internet connection, confiscated employees' passports, mobile phones and computers. The reason of the raid was not disclosed despite Anadolu Agency’s information request made by its lawyers.