LONDON (The Guardian) — On February 28, the Guardian newspaper published a letter addressed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, written by 38 Nobel Laureates, protesting the conviction of writers and editors to life sentences.
The letter is published below:
Dear President Erdogan,
We wish to draw your attention to the damage being done to the Republic of Turkey, to its reputation and the dignity and wellbeing of its citizens, through what leading authorities on freedom of expression deem to be the unlawful detention and wrongful conviction of writers and thinkers.
In a Memorandum on the Freedom of Expression in Turkey (2017), Nils Muiznieks, then Council of Europe commissioner for Human Rights, warned:
Turkey sentences journalists to life in jail over coup attempt