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    To suppress freedom of the press, some regimes arrest, prosecute and imprison translators
  • When staying incognito is paramount to staying alive
    Interpreters in war zones must wear masks to avoid being kidnapped, tortured and killed
  • When interpreting for journalists puts you in the cross hairs
    Targeted by state and non-state actors, interpreters face the fallout from controversial stories

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Terrorizing a champion of words

POSTED ON October 30 th, 2018

In the Turkish government’s ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression, Necmiye Alpay – a 70-year-old translator, author and member of the advisory board of the now-shuttered pro-Kurdish newspaper, Özgür Gündem – was arrested on August 31, 2016, along with nine colleagues and charged with membership in a terrorist organization and disrupting the unity of the state. And while the disruption charge was dropped, Alpay is on trial for the trumped-up terrorism charge, with the indictment seeking a life sentence.