BREAKING NEWS

Turkey deports Dutch journalist, alleges link to al Qaeda offshoot

By REUTERS

JANUARY 17, 2019 15:02

AMSTERDAM - Turkey on Thursday deported a 31-year-old journalist working for a leading Dutch financial daily newspaper, accusing her of links to the militant Nusra Front, an al Qaeda offshoot involved in neighboring Syria's war.

The Financieele Dagblad (FD) newspaper defended Ans Boersma, calling her expulsion a "flagrant violation of press freedom."

Turkey's presidential palace said Boersma - who was educated in Christian schools and interned at a Christian charity - was deported for security reasons, not her journalism work.

Turkish officials said Boersma had "suspected terrorism links" and later referred to the Nusra Front, which now falls under the Tahrir al-Sham umbrella, the most powerful jihadist alliance in Syria's Idlib province bordering Turkey.

President Tayyip Erdogan's office said Turkish authorities had received Dutch police intelligence saying Boersma "had links to a designated terrorist organization (as well as) a request for information about her movements in and out of Turkey."

Prosecutors in the Netherlands did not seek her extradition, national broadcaster NOS reported. It cited prosecutors as saying: "We cannot confirm there is a criminal investigation involving Boersma."

The Dutch national police and intelligence service declined to comment. All Dutch authorities referred calls on the matter to the national prosecutor's office, where spokespeople did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

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