List of arrested journalists in Turkey

List of arrested journalists

Grounds for prosecution

• The Anti-Terror Law of Turkey, Articles 5 and 7 relating to articles of the Criminal Code on terrorist offences and organizations or assisting members of or making propaganda in connection with such organizations, as well as the lengthening of sentences;
• The Criminal Code of Turkey, Article 314 on establishing, commanding or becoming member of an armed organization with the aim of committing certain offences.

  3 types of journalists targeted

• investigative and critical reporters: victims of the anti-state prosecutions : The government’s broad inquiry into the Ergenekon plot ensnared investigative reporters. But the evidence, rather than revealing conspirators, points to a government intent on punishing critical reporters.
• Kurdish journalists: Turkish authorities conflate support for the Kurdish cause with terrorism itself. When it comes to Kurdish journalists, newsgathering activities such as fielding tips, covering protests, and conducting interviews are evidence of a crime.
• collateral damages of the general assault on the press: The authorities are waging one of the world’s biggest anti-press campaigns in recent history. Dozens of writers and editors are in prison, nearly all on terrorism or other anti-state charges.

  Concerns

• Courts often impose exceptionally long imprisonment sentences. The longest conviction is 166 years and the longest jail sentence sought for a journalist is 3,000 years.
• Many journalists face double life sentences if convicted, some without possibility for parole. Courts do not tend to grant pre-trial release of defendants.
• There is concern that arrests and long pre-trial detentions without conviction are used as a form of intimidation.
• Pre-trial detentions remain very long. In some cases journalists held in prison for up to three years are still awaiting trial. Some journalists have been imprisoned for more than five years while their trial is ongoing.
• Journalists often face several trials and are often convicted for several offences. There is one journalist who faces 150 court cases.
• Media outlets reporting about sensitive issues are often regarded by the authorities as the publishing organs of illegal organizations. Courts often consider reporting about such issues as equal to supporting them.
• Journalists are often imprisoned in F-tipi cezaevi, where they have to serve their time with the most dangerous criminals. It is also not uncommon to punish journalists with solitary confinement for extended time periods.
• According to a report published by Amnesty International on 30 March 2020, Turkey government is said to be speeding up the process of preparing a draft law that intends to release approximately 100,000 prisoners amid growing concerns about the spread of COVID-19 in prisons. However, the law overlooks the journalists, political prisoners, and human rights defenders, who are said to remain jailed despite overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions already posing severe health threat.
• On 3 July 2020, four Amnesty International activists were convicted by the Turkish court for "assisting a terrorist organization". The human rights group denies all the charges and said that every allegation against its members has been "comprehensively exposed as a baseless slur."