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A French journalist who was detained for covering a pro-SDF protest in Istanbul and who was facing possible deportation has been released, he told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday.
Raphael Boukandoura, 35, who has reportedly lived legally in Türkiye for at least a decade and holds an official press card, was covering the protest for French daily Liberation when he was detained on Monday evening.
"I'm on my way home," he told AFP in a brief phone call after leaving the migrant detention centre in Arnavutkoy near Istanbul airport.
His lawyer, Emine Ozhasar, confirmed he had been freed, telling AFP she was still waiting to hear details of the release. It was not immediately clear if the charges against the journalist had been dropped.
She earlier said Boukandoura had been transferred to a migrant detention centre and was facing possible deportation.
According to the MLSA rights group, Boukandoura was "accused of chanting slogans" during a demonstration. Police broke up the protest and detained 10 people, including the journalist. Boukandoura's release was hailed by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
"We are greatly relieved by the release of Raphael Boukandoura, a French journalist living in Türkiye who was threatened with deportation," RSF's Türkiye representative Erol Onderoglu told AFP.
"His release ends three harrowing days in detention, which included a violent arrest on the evening of 19 January.''
The French foreign ministry had on Tuesday said it hoped Boukandoura would be "freed as quickly as possible" in a statement sent to AFP.
Earlier on Wednesday, the European Parliament's Türkiye rapporteur Nacho Sanchez Amor, had said he was following "with concern" the reporter's case, especially given the deportation threat.
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