Journalist temporarily detained for reporting on Gabonese student's death in Turkey

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Demirören News Agency (DHA) reporter Ali Sencar Arslan was detained on April 4 after reporting on the death of Gabonese university student Jeannah Danys Dinabongho Ibouanga in the Black Sea province of Karabük.

The dead body of the 17-year-old Gabonese student was found in the Yeşilköy area of Filyos Stream in Karabük on March 26. DHA reporter Arslan found the last images of Dinabongho before her death, showing her running barefoot on the street. The footage was captured on a security camera of a housing complex. The reporter was detained for publishing these images but released after giving his testimony. 

The Karabük Prosecutor’s Office stated that there is a confidentiality decision about the murder case and the journalist violated the confidentiality of the investigation by accessing some images saying that he had the permission of the prosecutor's office. 

Previously, Dinabongho's family revealed the voice messages she sent to her mother in Gabon one day before her death. In these messages, she talked about being mistreated in Karabük and said that she could be killed at any time.

On March 28, international students stated that they could not get information from the authorities about Dinabongho's death and staged a protest at the university campus. Both her family members and her friends said that the murder might be racially motivated and the investigation is neglected. 

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu brought the suspicious death of the student to the agenda of the Parliament on April 4. Gergerlioğlu said that even though the prosecutor’s office declared the murder as being "natural death", the Gabonese Embassy does not believe that there was a proper investigation because the victim was black.