Turkish prosecutors have indicted journalist Sedef Kabaş on charges of “inciting crime” in her social media posts, the Birgün daily reported.
The indictment seeks a prison sentence of up to five years, citing a social media post in which Kabaş advocated civil disobedience, warning that elections could become “merely symbolic.”
She denied the accusation, saying civil disobedience is protected under the constitution and cannot be treated as a criminal offense. The indictment has been submitted to a criminal court of first instance for review and approval.
Kabaş was briefly detained on January 26 on accusations of “insulting the president” and “inciting crime,” though only the latter charge was included in the indictment. She was later released under judicial supervision, including an international travel ban and a requirement to regularly report to a police station for four months.
Kabaş is also standing trial in a separate case that has been ongoing since 2023 on charges of “insulting the president” based on 25 social media posts. The next hearing in that case is scheduled for May 5.
She was previously sentenced to more than three years on March 11, 2022, for insulting the president in remarks she made during a television program aired on the pro-opposition TELE1 television station. She was subsequently released pending appeal.
In an earlier case in 2019, Kabaş was prosecuted on similar charges and received a suspended sentence of nearly one year.
Journalists in Turkey who are critical of the government or allied political parties have faced increasing scrutiny under laws criminalizing “insulting public officials,” “disinformation” and “terrorist propaganda.” According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 33 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey. The country’s deteriorating media landscape was further pointed out in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where it was ranked 159th out of 180 nations.
