Turkish court jails 6 journalists, employee of independent newspaper over ‘coup link’

A Turkish court on Friday convicted six journalists and one other employee of an independent newspaper of aiding the network of a US-based cleric who is accused of masterminding the failed coup in 2016, Anadolu reported.

The seven were accused of supporting the coup through their work for the newspaper Sozcu, which has been extremely critical of the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, AP said. They all reject the accusations and are expected to appeal the verdicts.

Columnists Emin Colasan and Necati Dogru were sentenced to three years and six months in prison. The paper’s chief editor Metin Yilmaz and its online edition’s managing editor, Mustafa Cetin, received over three years in prison, while online news editor Yucel Ari, financial manager Yonca Yucelan and journalist Gokmen Ulu were sentenced to two-year prison terms. The court in Istanbul acquitted one journalist, Mediha Olgun, of the charges.

The Turkish Journalists Syndicate says at least 108 journalists or media sector employees are currently in prison.