Ankara Bar Objects To Media Ban Ruling Over Ankara Bombings

The Ankara Bar Association has officially appealed the court ruling that bans media reports on the investigation into the deadly Oct. 10 suicide bombing.

The appeal was submitted to the 7th Criminal Court of Peace on Oct. 15, Ankara Bar head Hakan Canduran told daily Hürriyet.

Canduran said the ruling was given without justification, violating both the right to access information and freedom of the press and expression. He said the decision not only violated Turkish laws and the constitution but also the international conventions to which Turkey is a party.

On Oct. 14 an Ankara court issued a broad media ban over the official investigation into the blasts. The ban includes "all kinds of news, interviews, criticism and similar publications in print, visual, social media and all kinds of media on the Internet" covered by the investigation.

All media outlets in Turkey were officially notified of the decision, which brought in one of the broadest recent media bans and went into immediate effect.

Meanwhile, on Oct. 12 a restriction ruling over the bombing investigation was also delivered upon the prosecutor's demand.

According to the ruling, lawyers will not be able to access information and documents from the investigation file, with some exceptions. The same ruling had been made after both the Suruç and Diyarbakır bomb attacks earlier this year. - Ankara