Turkey 6 journalists to prison
Turkey 6 journalists to prison |Turkey 6 newspaper journalists sentenced to prison. A Turkish court sentenced another employee, including six newspaper journalists, to life imprisonment in connection with a failed 2016 coup in support of the US-based Fatehullah Golan network. According to a report by the US news agency AP published in the Dawn newspaper, seven people were accused of assisting Fatehullah Golon, a conspiracy to rebel by working for the newspaper Suzhou. Be aware that the Suzhou newspaper has been critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo ?an’s government. However, the seven dismissed the allegations and are likely to file appeals against the verdicts. It should be noted that the aforementioned case has intensified the concerns of a crackdown on critical news coverage on the administration of Rajiv Tayyip Erdogan.
According to the Turkish state-owned agency Anadolu, columnist Emine Kolasan received three years and Nejati Dugar received six months imprisonment. In addition, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Matten Elmes, managing editor of the online edition, Mustafa Jitin, was sentenced to more than three years in prison. Anadolu Agency reported that the trial will continue in absentia against the newspaper’s owner, Barak Abe, who is overseas. Remember that Turkey accuses Fethullah Golan of plotting a coup and calls his organization a terrorist. Fethullah Golan is based in the United States under self-imposed exile and denies any allegations of involvement in the coup attempt. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, most journalists are imprisoned in Turkey after China. Turkish journalists syndicate says at least 108 journalists or media sector employees are currently imprisoned. Earlier in 2017, the Kyrgyz court also sentenced six journalists of the former newspaper Zaman to life imprisonment on charges of belonging to Fethullah Golan.
