2016 prison census - Turkey: Ibrahim Karayegen

Police at Istanbul Atatürk Airport detained Karayegen, a former news editor for the shuttered daily newspapers Zaman and Yeni Hayat, the pro-government daily newspaper Sabah reported on September 26, 2016, and a court subsequently ordered him jailed pending trial on suspicion that he was a follower of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen. The government accuses Gülen of maintaining a terrorist organization and "parallel state structure" (or FETÖ/PDY, as the government calls it) within Turkey that it blames for orchestrating a failed July 15, 2016, military coup.

Sabah reported that interrogators asked the journalist about his work for the two newspapers, but did not specify the date of his detention or arraignment.

Zaman was among the more than 100 newspapers, broadcasters, news agencies, and magazines the Turkish government ordered closed by decree on July 27, 2016, using emergency powers it assumed after the attempted coup, saying the media outlets were FETÖ/PDY mouthpieces, according to Turkey's Official Gazette. Since then, CPJ research shows that Turkish authorities have jailed dozens of Zaman journalists pending trial on terrorism-related offenses.

In March 2016 a court ordered Zaman's parent company, the Feza Media Group, put under trustees selected by the government, saying the company and the newspaper had ties to the Gülenist network. After the government-appointed trustees took control of Zaman and the newspaper's editorial line changed accordingly, a group of Zaman journalists founded the newspaper Yeni Hayat, which stopped publishing after the failed July 2016 coup attempt.

The Committee to Protect Journalists contacted Karayegen's colleagues, and was unable to find any further information about his case, or to contact his defense lawyers for documentation.