20/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the end of last week, Human Rights Watch hailed the acquittal on 13 February by the State Security Court in Istanbul of Fatih Tas, the Turkish publisher of brochures by Noam Chomsky who was accused of separatist propaganda (outlawed under anti-terrorist legislation) for having published an essay by the famous US intellectual on human rights in the south-east of Turkey. Human Rights Watch's Turkey researcher, said "It is an extraordinary outcome. Normally a case like this would drag on for a year and a half and end with a prison sentence", hoping that it would be more than a one-off incident. Human Rights watch said that the significance of the decision would become clear in the coming weeks, as courts reach judgements in similar pending cases.