Dutch journalist Boersma deported from Turkey for terrorism links

Ans Boersma was deported after Dutch authorities said she is a ‘suspect in an ongoing investigation into terrorism’.

Ans Boersma Facebook
Boersma, 31, had been in Turkey working as a journalist since 2017 [Facebook]

Turkish authorities have arrested and deported Dutch journalist Ans Boersma after Dutch authorities said she was a “suspect in an ongoing investigation into terrorism”.

Boersma had been working in Turkey as a journalist since 2017. She recently had her press credentials renewed for 2019 to work for, among others, financial newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad.

On Wednesday morning, she arrived at the immigration service where she was apprehended and told she would be deported.

She tweeted on Thursday saying she was put on a plane to the Netherlands.

On her arrival, she was not arrested by Dutch police, the justice department said.

Sources in Turkey confirmed to Al Jazeera that the 31-year-old Boersma was not deported because of her work as a journalist.

Turkish authorities said Boersma was suspected of having ties to al-Nusra Front, which recently rebranded to become Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office said Turkish authorities had received Dutch police intelligence saying Boersma “had links to a designated terrorist organisation [as well as] a request for information about her movements in and out of Turkey,” according to Reuters news agency.

Details about the investigation, in which Boersma plays a part, were not released either by Dutch or Turkish authorities.

According to a statement put out by Het Financieele Dagblad, Boersma suspects she was deported because she had a relationship until 2015 with a Syrian man who was arrested for alleged links to al-Nusra Front. 

The man was arrested by Dutch authorities late last year for allegledy being a member of al-Nusra Front.

Het Financieele Dagblad, Boersma’s main employer, said it will fight her deportation.

Source: Al Jazeera

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