MPs want to set up a special fund to help Dutch journalists facing legal action abroad in countries where press freedom is under pressure, public broadcaster NOS said on Tuesday.

The call, made on the UN’s World Press Freedom Day, would ensure there was money available to help journalists pay for legal costs. Journalists currently receive consular help if they run into difficulty abroad but not necessarily financial assistance to pay their legal bills.

Dutch columnist Ebru Umar is currently unable to leave Turkey because she faces legal action in connection with several tweets about president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Netherlands is supporting her legally.

‘Journalists can be prosecuted into the financial ground by authoritarian regimes,’ D66 parliamentarian Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, who proposed setting up the fund, said.

Security

Meanwhile Umar has told the NRC that prime minister Mark Rutte has made her promise to have personal security when she returns to the Netherlands if it proves to be necessary.

Umar, a Dutch national of Turkish descent, was arrested in late April while on holiday in the Aegean resort of Kusadasi. She told state broadcaster Nos that police had come to her door and questioned her over ‘a few Tweets’.

The Metro columnist spent the night in custody before being released but was ordered to stay in the country.

Column
Ebru Umar’s wretched columns are a small price to pay for freedom of expression