ANKARA—A Turkish court ordered the arrest of a journalist in the country’s southeast for allegedly spreading “disinformation,” his lawyer said on Dec. 15.
The arrest comes two months after parliament passed legislation that President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party said would protect the public. Critics say the law could be abused by authorities in order to stifle dissent.
Sinan Aygul, a journalist in Kurdish-majority Bitlis province, was detained early on Dec. 14 after he wrote on Twitter that a 14-year-old girl had allegedly been sexually abused by men including police officers and soldiers. He later retracted the Twitter posts.
In a series of comments, Aygul said the local governor told him the story was untrue after he had posted about the alleged incident….