Ahmet Altan

Ahmet Altan at a press conference for the Leipzig Media Award 2009 ceremony in Leipzig, October 2009. Photo: EPA/JAN WOITAS

Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals on April 14 overturned a decision on journalists Ahmet Altan and Nazli Ilıcak, who were given jail time for links to the FETÖ.

Ilıcak had been sentenced to eight years and nine months and Altan had gotten 10 years and six months in prison for aiding the terror group, which was behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey

The latest annual report by Reporters without Borders, RSF, on journalists that were killed, detained and held hostage throughout the world, says Turkey still has one of the worst records on jailing journalists, even though the number is lower now than in other years.

A Turkish court on Nov. 4 ordered the release of Ahmet Altan, a novelist and former editor-in-chief of Taraf newspaper, and Nazlı Ilıcak, a columnist and former parliamentarian, under judicial control.

Turkey's Constitutional Court has rejected the individual appeals of journalists Nazlı Ilıcak and Ahmet Altan on May 3, finding no rights violations in their lawsuits filed for aiding the plotters of a 2016 failed coup attempt, while ruling for a violation of rights in the case of Ali Bulaç, a former columnist of closed Zaman newspaper.

An Istanbul court sentenced imprisoned journalist Ahmet Altan to five years and 11 months in prison on charges of “making propaganda for a terror organization” and “insulting the president” on Feb. 28. 

A Turkish court has sentenced three prominent journalists to a life in prison because of relations with the organization accused of an unsuccessful attempt at a coup d'état in 2016, state media reported, quoted by BGNES.

An Istanbul court on Feb. 16 handed down aggravated life sentences to six defendants, including prominent journalists Nazlı Ilıcak, Ahmet Altan and Mehmet Altan, over “violating the Turkish constitution” in a case against the alleged “media wing” of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ). 

An Istanbul prosecutor demanded aggravated life sentences for journalists Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak on Dec. 11 in the case into the “media arm” of the Fetullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), believed to have been behind the July 2016 coup attempt.

An Istanbul judge ordered the lawyers of journalists Ahmet Altan and Mehmet Altan to leave the courtroom during a hearing on Nov. 13 in a case into seven suspects, including veteran journalist Nazlı Ilıcak along with the two brothers, trialed over alleged links to Fethullah Gülen.