Prison sentence given to Bülent Mumay upheld; Altan Sancar faces “inciting hatred” allegation; investigation against İsmail Arı and Dilan Esen dismissed; criminal complaint filed against Murat Ağırel’s book

Court upholds 20-month prison sentence given to Bülent Mumay

A suspended prison sentence of 1 year and 8 months given last year to journalist Bülent Mumay on the charge of “unlawfully obtaining or disseminating personal data” was recently upheld by an appellate court. Mumay announced the appellate court’s judgment on his social media account on 20 August 2024.

Mumay stood trial for sharing on his social media account a court order blocking access to news and social media content about pro-AKP construction company Met-Gün, which, after Ekrem İmamoğlu was elected Mayor of Istanbul in 2019, stopped the tender processes and took action to collect its receivables from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) in 2020 and obtained a precautionary attachment order and seized a 565 million TL loan the municipality had obtained from abroad for its metro project. When this was covered in the media, the company had access to related news articles and social media posts blocked for access by a decision of the Istanbul 3rd Criminal Judgeship of Peace. News websites complied with the decision and removed the said news items but Twitter did not remove the content. Mumay, who previously shared the news on Twitter, added the magistrate’s access ban order to his previous post, upon which a company official filed a complaint against Mumay for disclosing the identity numbers of the complainants in the court order. Concluding Mumay’s trial on 5 May 2023, the trial court sentenced the journalist to 1 year and 8 months in prison and suspended the sentence.

Altan Sancar faces “inciting hatred” allegation in new investigation

Gerçek Gündem news portal’s Ankara representative Altan Sancar was called in to give his statement on 19 August 2024 as part of an investigation launched by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on suspicion of “inciting hatred and hostility.” Sancar is being investigated on account of a social media post he shared during the local elections in March regarding claims of voting irregularities.

Giving his statement at the local police station, Sancar rejected the allegation and said his social media post subject to investigation was not his comment but a news item based on footage available in open sources of information. On election day, social media footage showed people being brought to vote en masse in front of some schools in some eastern and southeastern provinces. Opposition DEM Party had claimed that in many provinces and districts, soldiers and police officers were brought to vote as transported voters.

Investigation against İsmail Arı and Dilan Esen dismissed

An investigation launched against BirGün reporter İsmail Arı and the newspaper’s former Responsible Managing Editor Dilan Esen upon a complaint filed by former Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül has been dismissed by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Arı and Esen were investigated on suspicion of “insult” and “publicly disseminating misleading information” in the investigation, launched upon Gül’s complaint against Arı’s report published in the newspaper on 16 February 2024. The article was about allegations that people who purchased houses from a construction company owned by Gül’s sister Ayşenur Atmaca and her husband, Muharrem Atmaca, were not delivered their houses despite making the payment.

Concluding that the news article subject to the complaint did not directly refer to Abdülhamit Gül and that it was intended to inform the public, the prosecutor decided to dismiss the investigation due to lack of sufficient evidence.

Criminal complaint against journalist Murat Ağırel’s book “Havala”

A criminal complaint has been filed against journalist Murat Ağırel’s book “Havala,” about drug trafficking and money laundering in Turkey. The complainant requested that the book be confiscated.

Ağırel stated during the program “Kayda Geçsin,” broadcast on Halk TV on 21 August, that he was called to the police station earlier that day to give his statement in response to the criminal complaint. Ağırel said that the person who filed the complaint was Ahmed Ben Khadra, the brother of Alaa Ben Khadra, whose container was seized with 258 kilos of cocaine during an operation at Mersin Port in 2022, and that this person had previously been tried and acquitted for meat smuggling. Ağırel stated that an investigation was launched in order to have the book recalled and its sale stopped, and that he faced five different allegations, including “libel” and “insult.” 

Poet Nevzat Çelik briefly detained over social media post about fire in Izmir

Poet Nevzat Çelik was briefly detained by police officers who came to his house during evening hours on 18 August 2024 based on a detention warrant issued on account of a social media post he shared about the forest fire in Izmir on 16 August. Announcing his brief detention on social media on 19 August, Çelik said he was taken to the police station to give his statement and released the same night after his statement was taken.

Dilruba Y. remains behind bars as court rules for her release on one charge

An Izmir court ruled this week to release Dilruba Y., who was arrested earlier this month on charges of “insulting the president” and “inciting hatred and hostility” over her comments in a street interview broadcast on YouTube, but the young woman remained behind bars since the court rejected the objection to her remand on the charge of “inciting hatred and hostility.” 

Reviewing an objection to her detention filed by lawyer Hüseyin Yıldız, the court ruled to release Dilruba Y. on the charge of “insulting the president.” Her trial will begin in Izmir on 3 September 2024.

Court blocks access to news about access blocking decision

A Criminal Judgeship of Peace in Istanbul’s Anadolu Courthouse has issued a decision ordering blocking of access to news about a previous court decision blocking access to some 237 news articles and social media posts mentioning President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son Bilal Erdoğan. 

Istanbul’s Anadolu 5th Criminal Judgeship of Peace, which issued the newest access blocking decision, stated that “news and content that were previously blocked for access were re-published by circumventing the law.”

Access to Mezopotamya News Agency website blocked by court 

Access to the website of Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) was blocked on 21 August 2024 by a decision of the Eskişehir 4th Criminal Judgeship of Peace. The legal grounds for the access blocking decision were not provided by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK).

Access blocking decision for Diken news portal and İFÖD lifted

The Antalya 4th Criminal Judgeship of Peace has lifted a magistrate’s decision blocking access to news articles about former national wrestler Recep Çakır, who was convicted for sexual assault, for the websites engelliweb and DikenComTr. Ruling on the appeal filed by the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD) against the access blocking decision regarding engelliweb and Diken, the Antalya judgeship stated that “the news was current on the date it was made and is still current; the person about whom the news was made is a public figure; and the balance that needs to be established between freedom of the press and personal rights must be established in a measured manner.”

Announcing the decision on X, İFÖD founder Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz said: “The access blocking decision by the Korkuteli Criminal Judgeship of Peace dated 30 July is still valid for other news outlets. The reasoning of the Antalya 4th Criminal Judgeship of Peace is actually valid for all news and the Judgeship should have lifted the entire access blocking order.”

The Korkuteli Criminal Judgeship of Peace in Antalya ordered blocking of access to 28 URLs containing news or blog posts about Çakır on 30 July 2024. 

MHP Deputy Chair targets pro-opposition media 

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Deputy Chairman Semih Yalçın targeted the pro-opposition media in a written statement issued on 22 August. Part of Yalçın’s statement read: “The media, funded by FETÖ and the West, with its partisan media outlets, especially Halk TV, Sözcü TV and Cumhuriyet newspaper, are trying to attack and silence anyone who goes after the CHP’s political corruption and defends the rights of the nation. CHP media outlets … produce feverish headlines against us every day. Almost every day, there are unfounded, baseless and groundless allegations and opinions about both our Chairman Devlet Bahçeli and our party. In fact, a dirty betrayal and cooperation is hidden behind a political refrain that constantly repeats anti-MHP sentiment.” 

At least 25 journalists and media workers in prison

As of 23 August 2024 there are at least 25 journalists and media workers in prison in Turkey, either in pre-trial detention or serving a finalized prison sentence.

The full list can be accessed here.