Three academics in Turkey has been thrown in jail after they signed a peace petition in January 2016 criticising Erdogan’s regime. The academics were charged with “making terrorist propaganda” and jailed on March 15, 2016 amid an ongoing criminal investigation. Hrw.org reports: At least 30 other academics have been dismissed and 27 suspended by their universities pending investigation. The Istanbul prosecutor responsible for terrorism crimes is conducting a criminal investigation into all the academics who signed the petition and many local investigations are taking place. “President Erdogan’s vicious campaign against the academics is part of his drive to banish, punish, and silence all critical voices in Turkey,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Turkey’s universities, prosecutors, and courts should respect and protect free speech and the rule of law by immediately dropping all investigations and punitive measures against all those who signed the declaration.” The petition at issue, initially signed by 1,128 academics calling themselves Academics for Peace and then by more than 1,000 others, declared “We will not be party to this crime.”They condemned the Turkish government’s security operations against the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) youth movement in cities of southeast Turkey because of the disastrous [...]