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| Ahmet Altan | |
Ahmet Altan, the Turkish author who was released from prison last week after more than three years and whose detention had been condemned by 38 Nobel laureates, was rearrested Tuesday. The Guardian reported that an arrest warrant was issued "after the chief public prosecutor appealed against the decision to release Altan."
Calling the move "scandalous," Marie Struthers, Amnesty International's Europe director, said, "It is impossible to see this decision as anything other than further punishment for his determination not to be silenced and it compounds an already shocking catalogue of injustice he has been subjected to."
Karin Karlekar, PEN America's director of Free Expression at Risk Programs, described Altan's re-arrest as "a disgrace and a horror" and called for his immediate release, adding: "Ahmet should never have been imprisoned to begin with; he has committed no crime. His release last week after more than three years in detention was a cause for hopeful celebration, but today we are faced again with the cruelty of a justice system that no longer upholds the rule of law."