AFP photojournalist Bülent Kılıç was included on the One Free Press Coalition’s “10 Most Urgent” list of press freedom cases, the organization announced in a press release on Monday.
Kılıç was brutally detained while covering the İstanbul Pride March on June 26, sparking outrage and condemnation from national and international journalist associations. “Officers hit him in the face with his camera and threw it to the ground, and then pinned him down by kneeling on his neck and back as he struggled to breathe, before releasing him,” the statement said.
Kılıç was taken into custody and released three hours later after his initial statement was taken at the police station.
The August list spotlights photojournalists, videographers and filmmakers “who are experiencing a unique set of challenges and are often in situations of danger, given that the line of work requires them to get direct access to the action.”
The monthly list is issued by a united group of preeminent editors and publishers. It highlights journalists whose press freedoms are being suppressed or “whose cases are seeking justice.”
The One Free Press Coalition comprises 38 prominent international members including The Associated Press, The Washington Post, Bloomberg News, Reuters, Deutsche Welle, Financial Times, Forbes, TIME, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Al Jazeera Media Network. The coalition was conceived during a meeting of the International Media Council at the World Economic Forum. Top editors from leading media organizations committed to use their collective muscle — by working together, they could shine a massive light on the plight of threatened journalists all over the world.
