Rights group alarmed as newly freed Turkish scribes threatened online

From online dispatches

Nedim Şener (L) and Ahmet Şık after their release. AA and DHA photos

Turkish journalists Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener, who were released from jail on March 12 in the ongoing OdaTV case, were threatened via Twitter on March 16. 
 
Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said they were "very disturbed" by a message that was posted on the micro-blogging website and called yesterday on the Turkish government to shed light on the matter.  
 
A message that was posted by a person using the pseudonym "Faiz Düşmanı" (Enemy of Interest) read: “Attention, attention. I warn the government, and those that can should also inform [authorities]. Ergenekon is planning to assassinate Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener. [The organization] is going to kill them and then blame the [Fethullah Gülen religious] community.”
 
Şık said he took the message seriously and told RSF that it was the work of "the circles responsible for the conspiracy" that led to his detention for over a year on terrorism charges. 


"They want to silence me. They will be responsible for anything that happens to me," Şık was quoted as saying. 
 
There are 14 suspects currently being tried in the OdaTV case, including arrested journalist Soner Yalçın and former Police Chief Hanefi Avcıoğlu, who has written about the alleged infiltration of the police force by the Gülen community.
 
Ergenekon is an alleged ultranationalist gang accused of plotting to overthrow the government by fomenting chaos in society.