Mesopotamia Agency (MA) reporter İdris Sayılğan has been sentenced to four years in prison on the grounds of his social media posts.
A case was filed against MA reporter Sayılğan on charges of “propaganda for an organisation” due to his Facebook posts he shared between August 2015 and March 2016. The final hearing of the case was tried on February 1.
Sayılğan did not attend the hearing of the case held in Muş 2nd Heavy Penal Court in Muş city in SE Turkey.
Sayılğan’s lawyer Erselan Aktan attended the hearing via Sound and Video Information System (SEGBİS).
The court comittee announced the decision after the hearing and sentenced Sayığan to four years in prison on the grounds of propaganda in favour of an organisation.
808 journalists detained
According to a report issued by the Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP) deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu, 808 journalists have been detained under the ruling of Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey.
In addition, between 2002 and 2020 at least 808 journalists were detained. The year-by-year tally is as follows: 17 journalists were detained in 2002, 15 in 2003, 22 in 2006, 9 in 2007, 23 in 2008, 37 in 2009, 9 in 2010, 36 in 2011, 5 in 2012, 1 in 2013, 2 in 2014, 8 in 2015, 145 in 2016, 206 in 2017, 130 in 2019 and 87 in 2020.
