Sertan Baykara

Sertan Baykara (born 1980, West Germany) is a broadcast journalist and presenter based in London, UK.

In 2007 and 2008, he was the host of Press TV's, [http://www.presstv.com/] "World Week Watch" [http://www.presstv.com/pop/wmp.aspx?id=43485] , [http://www.presstv.com/pop/wmp.aspx?id=42485] , [http://www.presstv.com/pop/wmp.aspx?id=39563] , a weekly news-review show. He was also the producer of the show as well as the producer of several other current affairs shows on Press TV and other channels. He's also the director of several documentaries, a voice-over artist, and an outspoken activist for the abolition of capital punishment [http://www.tcadp.org/uploads/documents/newsletters/summer06.pdf] , [http://www.todesstrafe-usa.de/alive_goes_usa_2006.htm] .

Early and personal life

Sertan Baykara was born near the Dutch/German border as the son of Turkish immigrants and spent part of his teens living in South Texas.

He is a graduate of City University, London. He is single and living in London.

Charles Thompson controversy

Sertan Baykara was arrested by a special unit force of the US Federal Marshalls and held in custody for questioning at New York's JFK airport police station in November 2005.The charges against him were dropped the following day and he was able to return to London immediately.

The reason for the arrest and the subsequent allegations against him were based on the recent, notorious prison escape of convicted murderer Charles Thompson [http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/thompsoncharles.htm] in Texas.Sertan Baykara had been one of the last people to speak to Thompson before his breakout as part of a death penalty-related research project that he was part of. The prison break attracted international media coverage [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0511/07/ng.01.html] , [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/07/national/main1017430.shtml] . As the details of the escape began to crystalize after Thompson's re-arrest, it was established that Baykara had not been involved in the incident.

This was not the first time that Sertan Baykara experienced a clash with the police. In January 2005, he had experienced a previous, similar encounter with the law - this time with Scotland Yard police officers in London. An anti-terror unit raided a filmset in South London that his team had been working on, holding and questioning several actors involved in the production of a reconstructive documentary scene. Baykara was the director of this project, which has not been aired to this date.