Vice Media blacks out website and calls for the release of imprisoned journalist
Vice Media has temporarily shut down all of its digital channels and called on the Turkish government to release journalist Mohammed Rasool, who has now been detained for 56 days after being arrested while reporting for Vice.
All of the homepages across Vice Media’s regional websites have all be blacked out and replaced with a holding page calling for the release of the 25 year-old Iraqi freelance journalist.
Visitors to the site will be greeted with a video featuring Vice Media co-founder Shane Smith and editor in chief, Jason Mojica, recounting the arrest and calling for his release. The homepage also includes a Change.org petition which has been created in conjunction with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and is addressed to Turkey’s President Erdogan.
Rasool and two other vice journalists, Phil Pendlebury and Jake Hanrahan, were arrested in August after being accused of assisting a terrorist organisation while reporting for Vice News in southeast Turkey. Pendlebury and Hanrahan were released after 11 days however Rasool remains in a maximum-security anti-terror prison.
In the video Smith says “the very existence of democracy relies on a free and thriving fourth estate. Please help us focus attention on Rasool’s case, by sharing the hashtag on social media of #FreeRasool, and keeping pressure on the Turkish authorities to free him immediately”.
Alex Miller, who is the global head of content for Vice, said that when one of its journalists is held on “ludicrous allegations we can't just sit back”. He added that “our readers care deeply about freedom of speech, human rights and the protection of all journalists around the world - and we firmly believe they will support this cause”.
Describing the idea behind the blackout, which will run from 3pm until 5pm today, Miller said “we're using Vice’s entire network of channels to ask our audience directly to help us secure the release of our friend and colleague - a talented, young journalist who was just doing his job. Show your support today and help us get Rasool out”.
Prior to their arrest, Jake, Phil and Rasool were reporting on the clashes between the PKK Youth Wing and the Turkish authorities in Cizre and Diyarbakir. Rasool is a month away from completing his master’s degree in international relations at Fatih University in Istanbul. He is fluent in five languages which has led to him working as an interpreter for the Associated Press and Al Jazeera.