Dicle News Agency (DİHA) | Imprisoned in Turkey | April 03, 2017

Job:Internet Reporter, Photographer
Medium:Internet
Beats Covered:Corruption, Crime, Culture, Human Rights, Politics, War
Gender:Female
Local or Foreign:Local
Freelance:No
Charge:Anti-state
Length of Sentence:1 year to <5 years
Reported Health Problems:No

The Supreme Court Of Appeals upheld a lower court's verdict that sentenced Meltem Oktay, a former reporter for the shuttered pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), and fellow reporter Uğur Akgül to four years in prison on charges of producing propaganda for the PKK in connection with material they published to social media websites, according to an April 19, 2017 Dihaber report.

Police first detained the journalists on April 12, 2016, during dawn raids on their homes in Nusaybin, a city in Mardin Province, southeastern Turkey, according to news reports.

At that time, Nusaybin was under curfew due to clashes between rebel Kurds, whom Turkey considered as terrorists affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), and Turkish security forces. Prosecutors scheduled to question the two journalists on April 13, 2016, considered Nusaybin's courthouse to be unsafe, according to a DİHA report. Prosecutors instead questioned the pair in a makeshift court on the top floor of a hospital in Nusaybin on April 14, DİHA reported. Police cited as evidence their journalistic work and posts to social media websites, the news agency said. A Nusaybin court ordered Oktay to be jailed and released Akgül pending trial. Both faced charges of being a member of a [terrorist] organization" and making propaganda for a [terrorist] organization" according to press reports.

At the second court hearing on August 18, 2016, a Mardin court released Oktay, according to press reports.

On November 25, 2016, the journalists were convicted and sentenced to four years in prison on charges of producing propaganda for the PKK in connection with material they published to social media websites, the daily Özgürlükçü Demokrasi reported. The court acquitted both of the charge of being members of a terrorist organization. The journalists were freed pending appeal.

Police in the western province of Edirne detained Oktay on April 3, 2017, after the sentence was upheld on appeal, according to a Dihaber report from April 19, 2017. She was sent to Gebze Prison for Women at the western province of Kocaeli to serve a sentence of two years, the report said. CPJ was unable to reconcile the conflicting reports about the length of her sentence.

As of late 2017, CPJ had not received a copy of the indictment and was unable to determine the status of Akgül's case.

Disclaimer: © Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.