An American journalist Jake Hess was detained last night by the Turkish police in Kurdish city Diyarbakir on account of “Aiding and abetting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party”. It is reported that the arrest falls within the scope of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case, in which hundreds of Kurdish politicians were imprisoned since last year. The arrested journalist faces deportation.

Jake Hess who was working freelance and was the only western journalist covering the bombardment of the Turkish army over civilian settlements as well as the forest fires started by the soldiers during military operations against the Kurdish guerrillas. Jake Hess was based in Diyarbakir and his reports were mostly being published by a leftist opposition news agency called IPS.

Hess wrote his last article from Suleymaniye on 4 August in which he was mentioning the Turkish bombardments on civilians and the displaced people.

In his article of 13 July Hess also wrote about the forest fires started by the Turkish soldiers in the Kurdish region. He also wrote that while the Turkish authorities are not taking any actions to extinguish the fire they also prevent the locals from doing so.

In his report in May he also wrote that torture is still common in Turkey and he gave voice to the victims.

It was known that the Turkish authorities were disturbed by the reports written by Hess and eventually the police arrested him yesterday before his house. While he is still kept in Diyarbakir Security Directorate and will appear before a court 24 hours after his arrest he is expected to be deported.