Tahir Elci, 49, Kurdish Human Rights Lawyer
[From article]
A prominent lawyer and human rights defender, who faced a criminal charge for supporting Kurdish rebels, was killed Saturday in an attack in southeast Turkey in which a police officer also died, officials said.
Tahir Elci was shot while he and other lawyers were making a press statement. Two policemen and a journalist were also injured.
It wasn't immediately clear who was behind the attack and there were conflicting reports about what led to it.
Interior Minister Efkan Ala and other officials said the assault was against police officers, and that Elci died in an ensuing clash. However, the Diyarbakir Bar Association said the lawyer, who was Kurdish, was the target of the attack.
[. . .]
Elci, 49, was the head of the bar association in the mainly Kurdish city and a human rights activist.
He was briefly detained and questioned last month for saying during a live news program that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, is not a terrorist organization. Soon after, he was charged with making terrorist propaganda and was facing more than seven years in prison.
[. . .]
Elci had said through his Twitter account that he had received death threats because of his televised comments in which he defended the rebels.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_TURKEY_LAWYER_KILLED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-28-05-39-07
Nov 28, 10:23 AM EST
PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST KILLED IN ATTACK IN TURKEY
BY SUZAN FRASER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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