Journalist Mahmut Altıntaş, who was arrested on Saturday in Adıyaman (Semsûr), was taken into custody again after several hours of police detention and court-ordered reporting requirements.

According to the Mezopotamya (MA) news agency, for which Altıntaş works, the basis for the second arrest was a complaint from an officer from the anti-terror police TEM. The police officer claimed that he and other colleagues had been beaten by the journalist. The journalist is also said to have tried to escape. “A construct of lies,” explained Altıntaş, rejecting the allegations.

The incident is said to have taken place on Saturday on the premises of the Adıyaman Palace of Justice, when Altıntaş was taken to the public prosecutor's office for questioning after his first arrest. “The problem with the story is that our journalist was handcuffed at the time he allegedly beat up several police officers,” MA explained, adding: “His hands were tied with metal rings in front of his body. Furthermore, it was Mahmut Altıntaş who was a victim of violence. He was harassed and attacked by five police officers. The court’s surveillance cameras captured the scene.”

Altıntaş was on his way to a report on Saturday in the center of Adıyaman, a province in the Kurdish southeast of the country that was badly shaken by the earthquake about a year ago, when the car he was in was stopped by police . The journalist was taken to the city's police headquarters on the grounds that there was an order to arrest him. Those accompanying him were not informed of the reason for the arrest.