BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz officials have extended by one month the pretrial detention of a Turkish citizen wanted by Ankara for terrorist links, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
Ali Osman Zor, 43, is a Turkish journalist detained by Kyrgyz police on May 2. Turkish officials suspect him of involvement in a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda that wants to create an Islamic caliphate in the Middle East.
Kyrgyzstan's Labor and Migration Ministry rejected last month as without basis the arguments put forward by Zor and his lawyers in support of his claim to refugee status.
Zor's lawyers said Turkey's case against him is politically motivated. Kyrgyz human rights activists have called on the authorities not to extradite him to Turkey.
Bishkek-based human rights activist Toktayim Umetalieva told RFE/RL that Zor was still on a hunger strike he started 20 days ago to protest his arrest.
Read more in Kyrgyz here
Ali Osman Zor, 43, is a Turkish journalist detained by Kyrgyz police on May 2. Turkish officials suspect him of involvement in a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda that wants to create an Islamic caliphate in the Middle East.
Kyrgyzstan's Labor and Migration Ministry rejected last month as without basis the arguments put forward by Zor and his lawyers in support of his claim to refugee status.
Zor's lawyers said Turkey's case against him is politically motivated. Kyrgyz human rights activists have called on the authorities not to extradite him to Turkey.
Bishkek-based human rights activist Toktayim Umetalieva told RFE/RL that Zor was still on a hunger strike he started 20 days ago to protest his arrest.
Read more in Kyrgyz here
