(KOBANI, SYRIA) — Two Lebanese journalists were arrested by Turkish authorities on Tuesday after filming final shots for a documentary in the border town of Kobani, Syria.
LBC reporter Firas Hatoum and freelance photographer Rony Rmeiti were taken into custody after reentering Turkey from Kobani, Al-Jadeed reporter Bassel Aridi told Beirut-based newspaper, The Daily Star.
“There was a problem with the way they entered Kobani and the way they left it,” Aridi said, without revealing any other details.
Hatoum was reportedly interrogated for several hours by Turkish forces before he was freed to return to Lebanon, according to LBC. It is still unclear if Rmeiti was also released.
The two journalists were expected to leave on Sunday, but severe weather kept them from departing.
Hatoum was previously taken into custody in 2006 for tampering with criminal evidence, after allegedly breaking into the home of Mohammad Zuheir Siddiq, a former witness involved in the ongoing investigation into former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s assassination.
Turkey jails more journalists than any other country in the world, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. At least 221 journalists were imprisoned in Turkey in 2014.