Kurdish Women Journalists Association (ROJIN) released a statement saying that Medya Haber TV anchor, Kurdish female journalist Heval Arslan, was detained at the Ninove police station on the evening of September 22 after being summoned there.
The statement on Thursday said the following:
“Our friend, who was detained without a court order, had all her belongings confiscated and was subjected to a strip search. She was placed in a cell and threatened with being extradited first to France and then to Turkey. We condemn the Ninove police station’s mistreatment of our journalist friend Heval Arslan.
Heval Arslan, who has been working as a journalist since 2003, has worked for Roj TV, Med Nûçe, and Medya Haber TV.
She grew up in France, where she moved as a child, and studied there. She graduated from the journalism department at university. As a child of a working-class family, she was not granted citizenship in France. Most recently, the Turkish consulate refused to issue her a passport. For this reason, she has been unable to pursue her career as a journalist. Due to both France’s stance towards Kurdish media and her inability to practice journalism, she applied for asylum in Belgium.
She is currently being held at a center in Bruges pending deportation.
Our journalist friend Heval Arslan is a founding member and board member of our Kurdish Women Journalists Association-ROJIN, established under Belgian law.
As ROJIN, we demand that our member Heval Arslan not be extradited to France.
In the event that she is sent to France, it is unclear whether she will be granted asylum, and there is a risk that she will be extradited to Turkey. We are well aware of France’s past unfair treatment of the Kurdish press. That is why we are concerned.
In such a process where pro-peace journalism is needed, such an obstacle to Kurdish journalists is unacceptable.
We demand that the Belgian authorities put an end to this injustice and release our friend.
We call on all press and media organizations, especially our Belgian colleagues, to stand by and support our journalist friend Heval Arslan.”