Mehmet Baransu

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Turkish court sentences 4 former Taraf journalists to prison for exposing state secrets

Istanbul, March 7, 2022 – Turkish authorities should drop all charges against former staff members of the shuttered liberal daily Taraf and should free journalist Mehmet Baransu immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On Friday, March 4, the 13th Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes convicted four former Taraf employees on national security charges,…

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A journalist holds a press sign next to a placard reading 'Enough!' during a World Press Freedom Day rally in Istanbul. Turkey is a leading jailer of journalists. (AFP/Ozan Kose)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 7

Editor detained at courthouse Police in Istanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse today detained Çağlar Özbilgin, an editor for the leftist news website sendika.org, his employer reported. Özbilgin was there to attend a hearing of his trial on charges of “insulting the president,” but police detained him for a separate criminal investigation into him on suspicion of “provoking…

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Journalists and activists march for press freedom in Ankara, March 19, 2011. (Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 4

Wire reporter released pending conclusion of trial Mardin’s Second Court for Serious Crimes today released Zehra Doğan, a reporter for the shuttered news agency JİNHA, pending the conclusion of her trial, which began today, the pro-Kurdish Dihaber news agency reported. Police detained Doğan on July 22, and a court arraigned her on terrorism charges on…

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addresses supporters in Istanbul, August 7, 2016. (AFP/Ozan Kose)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 28

Government revokes press credentials for 115 journalists Turkey’s General Directorate for Press, Broadcasting, and Information (BYEGM, by its Turkish acronym) — the bureau within the prime minister’s office responsible for accrediting journalists — today revoked the credentials of 115 journalists, Turkey’s official Anatolia News Agency reported. The government alleged the journalists were affiliated with the…

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Turkey's Constitutional Court -- seen here in a December 11, 2009, file photo -- on June 17 rejected journalist Mehmet Baransu's contention that his rights were violated in his March 2015 arrest. (AP)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 12

Constitutional Court rejects journalist’s appeal Turkey’s Constitutional Court today ruled that journalist Mehmet Baransu’s constitutional right to freedom of expression and the constitution’s guarantees of press freedom were not contravened in the journalist’s March 2015 arrest in connection with in an alleged, elaborate conspiracy codenamed “Sledgehammer.” The same court in May 2016 rejected his petition…

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Police use water cannons to disperse protesters in front of the Istanbul headquarters of the Koza İpek media group after a court ordered it put into trusteeship, October 28, 2015. A columnist for Bugün, one of the group's former holdings, was released on June 10, 2016, after seven months' pre-trial detention. (Mehmet Ali Poyraz/Cihan News Agency/AP)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 5

Provincial officials ask journalists to submit to prior censorship: report Top officials in southeastern Turkey’s Gaziantep province, near the Syrian border, on June 1 convened local journalists to ask them not to report on “the bad things happening in the city,” and to submit their stories to a group on the messaging service WhatsApp which…

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Turkish High Court denies journalist’s petition for release from pretrial detention

Istanbul, May 18, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a decision made Tuesday by Turkey’s Constitutional Court to reject a petition for release by journalist Mehmet Baransu, who has been held in pretrial detention since March 2015 on charges of obtaining classified documents.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan speaks to local officials at the presidential palace in Ankara, May 4, 2016. (Adem Altan/AFP)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 15

Veteran columnist pleads ‘not guilty’ to charges of insulting Erdoğan Veteran journalist Hasan Cemal, a columnist for the news website T24 and a founder of the news website P24, today pleaded not guilty to charges of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at Istanbul’s 12th Criminal Court of First Instance, T24 reported.

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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, left, looks at a cell phone during a meeting in 2013. Since Erdoğan became president there has been an increase in insult charges filed against Turkey's press. (AP/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

Erdoğan vs the press: Insult law used to silence president’s critics

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is known for being intolerant of critics. During his third term as prime minister, Turkey was the leading jailer of journalists in the world with more than 60 behind bars at the height of the crackdown in 2012. Most of those have been released, but the press faces another threat–Article 299…

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In Turkey, jailed journalist given new prison term as third investigation begins

Istanbul, July 1, 2015–Turkish journalist Mehmet Baransu was handed a 10-month jail sentence by an Istanbul court on June 30 for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Twitter, according to reports. Baransu, a columnist and correspondent for the privately owned daily Taraf, is already in prison while authorities investigate him on separate charges, his lawyer…

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