İsminaz Temel, an editor for Etkin News Agency (ETHA), was arrested as part of an investigation against members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) and the Law Office of the Oppressed (EHB) on 19 October 2017. Out of the 23 suspects listed in the investigation file, Temel and ETHA reporter Havva Cuştan were among 16 who were taken into custody in dawn raids carried out by the police across Istanbul.

The accusations against Temel were not disclosed during her detention due to a confidentiality order. After spending seven days in police custody, Temel was taken to the Istanbul Courthouse on 25 October 2017. There, the journalist was questioned by a prosecutor on allegations of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization.” Photos Temel had taken for news coverage were held among evidence for the accusations.

Stating that she had been a journalist since 2006 and had worked at ETHA since 2010, Temel stated during her interrogation that all the photos shown to her had been taken for reporting. After taking her statement, the prosecutor referred Temel to a criminal judgeship of peace, requesting her imprisonment pending trial. The judgeship ruled for Temel’s imprisonment and the journalist was subsequently sent to the Bakırköy Women’s Prison.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued an indictment against Temel and 22 others, including ETHA reporter Havva Cuştan, on 3 March 2018. The indictment, which described the history of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), accused Temel of “membership in a terrorist organization” based on testimony by two secret witnesses and the demonstrations Temel had covered as a journalist.

The indictment was accepted by the Istanbul 27th High Criminal Court on 21 March 2018. The court set 16-17 July 2018 as the dates for the first hearing of the trial.

After nine months of pre-trial detention, Temel and her co-defendants appeared before the court on 16 July 2018 for their first hearing.

Held over two days, the hearing was marked by the presence of the police officers who arrested and interrogated the defendants. The judge rejected the lawyers’ request for the removal of the police officers from the courtroom on the grounds that the hearing was “open to the public.”

In her defense statement, Temel said that ETHA was considered as “the media outlet of a terrorist organization” by the prosecution. “ETHA is a news agency working to embrace all segments of society,” Temel said. Temel said that she attended all the events and demonstrations cited in the indictment as a journalist covering those events and also stressed that attending press statements or demonstrations cannot be considered as a crime.

At the end of the hearing, the court ordered the release of five defendants, including ETHA reporter Havva Cuştan, under judicial control measures while eight defendants, including Temel, were ordered to remain in pre-trial detention on the grounds that they “might tamper with evidence” and posed “flight risk.”

The second hearing was held on 29 November 2018. In her defense statement, Temel explained that she had been a journalist since 2006 and that the accusations against her were based in their entirety on her work as a journalist. Temel added: “As for the ‘flight risk’ claim, I can definitely say that in this case, where I know I am absolutely right, I will continue to defend my stance until the end. I am sure that all defendants in this case, including myself, are going to be eventually acquitted. So I demand that [the court] put an end to this unlawfulness today, and I request to be released pending trial.” In its interim ruling, the court ordered the continuation of Temel’s detention.

At the end of the third hearing, held on 15 February 2019, the court ruled for Temel’s release pending trial under judicial control measures in the form of an international travel ban and an obligation to sign her name at the police station once a week.

At the fourth hearing that took place on 19 April 2019, the court ruled to release the last two jailed defendants in the case, Coşkun Yiğit and Erkan Kakça, but rejected the request to lift the travel ban imposed on the defendants.

Prosecutor asks court to sentence all defendants

After more than 20 courtroom hearings, the trial against Temel and 22 other defendants resumed at the Istanbul 27th High Criminal Court on 11 January 2024. P24 monitored the hearing, during which the court heard Berfin Ayırkan as a witness. Ayırkan testified against Sezin Uçar, Özlem Gümüştaş, Gülhan Kaya and Havva Cuştan.

Defense lawyers asked the court to lift the judicial control measures imposed on their clients as part of the case that has been going on for more than six years.

The prosecutor then submitted their final opinion, asking the court to sentence all 23 defendants, including journalists Temel and Cuştan, as charged. Granting the defendants time to prepare their statements in response to the prosecutor’s final opinion, the court adjourned the case until 4 April 2024.

Detained in police raid on ETHA

On 15 June 2019, Temel and six other ETHA staffers (editors Serdal Işık, Deniz Bakır, reporters Havva Cuştan, Ozancan Sarı, managing editor Mehmet Acettin, Ceylan Publishing House employee Gülçin Aykul) were taken into custody in a police raid on the news agency’s Istanbul office. Reports said a confidentiality order was in place regarding the investigation.

It was later revealed that the investigation concerned a supplement issued by the weekly newspaper Atılım and that a total of 14 people were taken into custody on the allegation of “inciting hatred and enmity” as part of the investigation. ESP executives were also among those arrested.

All 14 people detained were brought to the Istanbul Courthouse on 19 June 2019 to give their statements to a prosecutor, who referred all to a criminal judgeship of peace, demanding their release under judicial control measures. The judgeship released Temel, Cuştan, Işık, Bakır, Sarı, Aykul and Acettin under a ban on traveling abroad, while the remaining seven were each imposed an additional judicial control measure in the form of signing their names at the police station once every two weeks.

Click here to read İsminaz Temel’s answers to our questionnaire about prison conditions.