Dutch journalist held in Turkey over Erdogan tweets says her Amsterdam flat was burgled
Dutch journalist Ebru Umar, who has briefly been detained in Turkey over Twitter posts critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that her Amsterdam flat had been broken into, adding that she thinks it is “no coincidence.”
So there was a burglary in my Amsterdam home. I m impressed. intimidated. o wait... I M NOT.
— Ebru Umar (@umarebru) April 25, 2016
Dear all, THANKS for all the calls & support. was in official meetings with lawyer, had a burglary in Adam - but I m available again THANKS!
— Ebru Umar (@umarebru) April 25, 2016
“So much is happening while I'm stuck here,” Umar told the local ‘Metro’ newspaper from Turkey, which she is not allowed to leave since her brief detention late Saturday.
“My neighbor called me saying he had bad news for me. My house has been broken into. The front door was forced and everything was turned upside down. My old laptop was stolen, luckily I brought my new one to Turkey."
Umar’s neighbor told Metro he has heard “thumping sounds” late at night: “Because I saw nothing, I went to sleep. This morning I spotted a huge crack in Ebru’s door. It’s scary.”
On Saturday, she was detained by Turkish police at her home in Kusadasi resort, They seized her laptop and questioned her for about 16 hours over two tweets in which she sharply criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
She was released on Sunday, but was ordered to stay in Turkey and report herself to the police on a regular basis, a spokesman for the Dutch Foreign Ministry told RT on Sunday: “So, she is no longer being held in custody, but she is not free to go where she wants to be.”
The police “were harsh at first,” and later became “annoyed at my lack of fear and hierarchy,” Umar wrote on her Twitter after the release. Officers at the station made clear that they were just following orders, but refused to give their names, she added.
In the Netherlands, Umar is known for her feminist and atheist views, first in columns for the website of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh, who she called a close friend and a mentor, and later in a number of local newspapers and feminist magazine Opzij.
She is also a regular guest on Dutch TV panels to speak on Islam-related issues.
