Turkish telecommunications head faces three years for not blocking website – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review

Turkish telecommunications head faces three years for not blocking website – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review

Sunday, September 26, 2010
ISTANBUL – Daily news with wires

The head of the Telecommunication Transmission Directorate, or TİB, is facing one to three years in prison for not halting access to a website that claimed the main opposition party’s leader is a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the daily Hürriyet reported Sunday.

TİB head Fethi Şimşek was accused of not applying a court order to halt access to the page of a group on the communication portal Facebook titled, ‘Kılıçdaroğlu is a PKK member.’

Kılıçdaroğlu had sued to stop the access to the group and its page, private news site NTVMSNBC reported.

After the court’s conclusion that the page should not be accessed, TİB informed the prosecutor’s office that it was impossible under the law for TİB to apply the decision. To prevent criticism of freedom of thought, the scope of limiting access is limited to broadcasts adversely affecting children or abusing them, the daily Hürriyet wrote.