A Turkish court on 16 February sentenced six defendants, including journalists Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak, to life in prison over allegations of involvement in the 2016 coup attempt.
They were convicted on allegations that they sent "subliminal messages" in support of the 2016 coup attempt on a television program. Articles they wrote for newspapers affiliated with the Fethullah Gülen network, which Turkey says was behind the coup attempt of 15 July 2016 were also used as evidence against them.
The Altan brothers and Ilıcak have been detained since 2016. The conviction also defies an order by Turkey’s highest court to release Mehmet Altan, after it found last month that his imprisonment had violated his constitutional rights.
The sentences drew fierce condemnation from the UN and press freedom advocates, according to a report in The Guardian.
“The court decision condemning journalists to aggravated life in prison for their work, without presenting substantial proof of their involvement in the coup attempt or ensuring a fair trial, critically threatens journalism and with it the remnants of freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey,” said David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression.
Sarah Clarke, the policy and advocacy manager for the writers’ association PEN International, tweeted that the sentences marked an “apex of the disintegration of the rule of law in Turkey. “This sets a devastating precedent for scores of other journalists charged with similarly groundless charges,” Clarke wrote.
The International Press Institute said it was appalled by the verdict.
The court also handed down life sentences to Yakup Şimşek, a former marketing manager for the Zaman newspaper, Zaman visual/photography editor Fevzi Yazıcı, and retired police academy instructor Şükrü Tuğrul Özsengül.
