Turkey - Jacky Sutton, 50, British journalist, dies in airport restroom, 17 Oct 2015

delal

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http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/br...anbul.aspx?pageID=238&nID=90007&NewsCatID=341

The Turks are passing this off as a suicide but it's very very suspicious, for the following reasons:

This story has been published in the Turkish newspapers today. The lady in question was found at the main airport in Istanbul, supposedly having hung herself.

Firstly, she had several hours between her flights so no need to miss the second flight. Secondly, she was not a poor person - she had a good job and would have been able to afford to buy a new ticket.

This has not been picked up by world media. I don't trust Turkish media or officials for various reasons. The lady in question worked for the UN for many years, then as a journalist, and was campaigning for fair media rights in Iraq.

I suspect foul play. I'd appreciate any input from others here.

Apologies for double post but I couldn't edit the heading on my other post.
 
I wish we had more details. I agree missing the flight wouldn't have had anything to do with her committing suicide. It would help to know why she missed the flight, where she was going and why, and what her history was. Was she depressed? Has she ever attempted suicide?

It sounds suspicious, especially if they were so quick to say it was suicide. Unless they know something they haven't shared that makes it obviously suicide.

Maybe they know no one else went into or left the washroom because they have cameras on it?
 
She was going to Erbil in the Kurdish region of Iraq. It seems that she went backwards and forward there for work reasons and had been travelling through the Middle East for many years and had done this journey many times. So an experienced traveller and not the type of person who would have panicked at a big airport or missing a flight.
 
I double checked the rules and checked that it was ok to post information from a victim's social media.

In June this year, Jacqueline posted the following:
"Have arrived safely but am not going to be posting anything from now on because I do not want to flag my whereabouts"

Numerous colleagues/acquaintances/friends of hers have died/been killed doing their jobs judging by the things she has written and shared - evidently doing high profile work in that part of the world is risky.
 
I really hope the Brits step in and at least attempt to do their own investigation.
 
British media are picking up the story now, stories on the BBC, Mirror and Evening Standard. Hopefully a journalist on the ground who does more than rehash press releases will do some digging.
 
Sounds like her friends and colleagues just don't buy the whole suicide idea. Since many of them are journalists and investigative correspondents I am hopeful that the truth will be found.


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/119...tanbul-airport-voice-fears-over-cover-up.html

" Christian Bleuer, a research fellow at the Australian National University who knew her well, tweeted: "Toughest woman u could meet. Turkish police say she committed suicide cuz she missed her flight?"

Jacky Sutton worked in Afghanistan & Iraq. Toughest woman u could meet. Turkish police say she committed suicide cuz she missed her flight?
— Christian Bleuer (@ChristianBleuer) October 18, 2015

He added: "I'm not into conspiracies, but if the Turks say a security camera at Istanbul-Ataturk was 'malfunctioning', then Jacky Sutton was murdered."

I'm not into conspiracies, but if the Turks say a security camera at Istanbul-Ataturk was "malfunctioning," then Jacky Sutton was murdered.
— Christian Bleuer (@ChristianBleuer) October 18, 2015 "



http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/19/jacqueline-sutton-foreign-office-died-istanbul-airport

"It was not clear how Sutton had died with some reports saying she had taken her own life. But fellow journalist and development worker Rebecca Cooke called for an international investigation.

“Shocking and sad news about the death of Jacky Sutton in Istanbul. An international not just local investigation is needed,” she told the Press Association."
 
Here she talks about her work in conflict zones

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2014/09/17/4089501.htm

She was one tough cookie.
But they say she cried, said had no money?
Then used her shoe lashes to hang herself in public toilet in desperate situation, but she could have easily called the embassy, friends colleagues for help and she was not poor, that version is very hard to believe after decades of death-defying work in war zones.
. Was she under some kind of pressure, many journalists are, may be setbacks in personal life recently and missing the flight was a last straw?
Everything is possible but it is not very likely per those who know her.



Sent via Tapatalk
 
Friend had no concerns about mental health
Ms Hutchinson said she had spoken to her friend [Ms Sutton] just a week before, and she had no cause for concern at all about her mental health.
"She had been working in Kurdistan and she needed to travel into mainstream Iraq ... she'd been having some trouble with that process and we were concerned about how well that trip would go," Ms Hutchinson said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-...er-death-of-anu-academic-jacky-sutton/6866720


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Just because she was found at the airport that doesn't necessarily mean the Turkish gov was involved.

If her predecessor was killed in Baghdad it is possible she was busy stirring up multiple hornet's nests, and other groups may have wanted her dead. The Turks have more than their share of strange travelers these days, lots of wannabe ISIS recruits trying to pass through the country, their own Kurdish problem etc...

Being killed IN the airport allegedly with shoelaces points to someone other than Turkish officials IMO, though it is very likely that the Turkish government doesn't really care who did it and doesn't feel like launching a massive investigation.
 
She was extremely bright, highly competent, and well able to handle herself in difficult environments, and she was universally loved. We are in total shock,” Mr Borden said.
The agency also said: “Jacky was returning to Iraq full of plans for innovative new work, including projects to counter violent extremism that threatens a country to which she was so committed.”

http://www.news.com.au/world/friend...-of-jacky-sutton/story-fndir2ev-1227574961475


Sent via Tapatalk
 
The agency also said: “Jacky was returning to Iraq full of plans for innovative new work, including projects to counter violent extremism that threatens a country to which she was so committed.”

Quite possible the "violent extremists" objected to her plans. If someone wanted to discourage other Westerners from meddling then killing her at an airport in Turkey would be more intimidating than waiting until she arrived in Baghdad, plus she wouldn't have security around her.

Is it normal for journalists to become involved with organizing resistance projects in war torn foreign countries? I thought journalists were supposed to simply report what they saw? If a journalist starts organizing resistance efforts they are no longer an "observer" they are a participant.
 
Lengthy article with JS, sadly,this turned out to be her last email to the author of the article..

http://hercanberra.com.au/cppeople/jacky-sutton-a-life/

"I’m in a hotel at the moment – a low key one with hardly any guests. The accommodation that had been prepared was basically one room and a bathroom above the office with only one door in and out, and that off the street. So if someone came in uninvited I was trapped and, as my Kurdish friends said, “It just needs one whacko to hear in the Friday prayers that killing foreigners is jihad, and they’ll come knocking at your door in a heartbeat.” Erbil has grown but everyone knows where the foreigners are staying. So I am going to stay in the hotel until next week when I will move in with some Kurdish friends who live in a gated community. If Daesh wants to attack they will but it will take planning and I won’t be THE target; if the whacko wants to get to heaven he or she will have to contend with armed guards and a choice of targets, and the same with criminal kidnappers – a growth industry in Iraq.

It’s great to be back here and my friends in both Baghdad and Erbil have been calling me pretty much non-stop.

I won’t be posting on FB too much because there is no point in drawing attention to myself and my colleagues, but I will be keeping a diary and would love to write something for you once I get back to Australia. Ideally I’d like to do a “postcard from Erbil” but you never know who is reading HC …



Sadly, that postcard from Erbil will never eventuate, and if Jacky’s friends’ beliefs about the circumstances surrounding her death are true, her concerns about not sharing her location on social media were very valid."

rbbm.
 
If Daesh wants to attack they will but it will take planning and I won’t be THE target; if the whacko wants to get to heaven he or she will have to contend with armed guards and a choice of targets, and the same with criminal kidnappers – a growth industry in Iraq.

Daesh = ISIS.
 

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