Rights group condemns changes to Turkey's anti-espionage law

Planned changes to an anti-espionage law in Turkey threaten the work of rights defenders and journalists, the Human Rights Watch group said Saturday.

A text modifying the country's anti-spying law, due to be discussed in parliament soon, would allow prison terms of up to seven years for suspects found guilty of working for foreign interests.

HRW said the legislative amendment "seeks to expand the definition of espionage in such a vague manner that it could criminalize legitimate work by human rights defenders, journalists, and other civil society actors".

The change would "equip the government with powers to taint legitimate human rights organizations, media, and other civil society as spies or enemies of the state, discrediting and even criminalizing their work," said HRW Europe and Central Asia specialist Hugh Williamson.

Several Turkish journalist unions and groups have called for the text to be withdrawn.

A previous version, that media called "agents of influence legislation" was abandoned in June but returned to the legislative agenda in October.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has said that the changes are needed to "fight against new types of espionage".