Turkish authorities have kept a journalist in prison for more than three months beyond his expected release date after a parole board ruled that he had not shown “remorse,” the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) reported.
Ali Barış Kurt, held at a prison in the Maltepe district of İstanbul, was due to be released in November 2025 but remains behind bars following a unanimous decision by the prison’s administrative observation board.
Administrative observation boards, review bodies established in Turkish prisons in January 2021, have been criticized for delaying prisoners’ release on parole.
“I was supposed to be released in November 2025, but the board unanimously blocked my release because I did not express remorse,” Kurt said in a message sent to the MLSA. He said an enforcement judge and a high criminal court later upheld the board’s decision.
Kurt described the reasoning as “unfounded” and said a disciplinary penalty was cited to justify denying his conditional release. “I have been in prison for about 400 days due to my journalistic activities,” he said.
Kurt was sentenced in November 2016 by the Ankara 2nd High Criminal Court to two years, four months in prison on a charge of spreading propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
Kurt was arrested and sent to prison in 2025 February after the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld his conviction.
Turkish authorities frequently charge journalists with disseminating propaganda for the PKK, in their reporting, commentary or social media posts.
Press freedom in Turkey has sharply deteriorated over the past decade. Dozens of journalists have faced prosecution, and media outlets critical of the government have been shut down, taken over by pro-government owners or subjected to heavy financial penalties, rights organizations report.
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.
