A new criminal case has been opened against jailed Turkish journalist İsmail Arı on accusations of insulting a public official after he retweeted a 2023 news report about a former Ankara police chief, the BirGün daily reported.
The report, published by Sendika.org, concerned a complaint filed by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) against Mukadder Kardiyen, a former Ankara deputy provincial police chief. The indictment was drafted by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on April 8 following a complaint from the Ankara Police Department.
Arı has been in pretrial detention since March on separate charges of publicly disseminating misleading information. Prosecutors in that case cited his reporting and social media posts on foundations linked to family members of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, alleged irregularities at the state-run Yunus Emre Institute, construction on a cultural heritage site near Erdoğan’s former school and judicial appointments.
Arı described the new case as selective, saying many others had shared the same report without facing prosecution. He said he had faced multiple investigations and criminal cases in recent years, often requiring him to report to police stations or attend court hearings and questioned why he was being targeted for his journalism.
The first hearing is scheduled for September 17 at the Ankara 47th Criminal Court of First Instance.
Independent journalists in Turkey have faced increasing legal pressure under laws criminalizing insulting public officials, disinformation and terrorist propaganda.
According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 26 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey. The country’s deteriorating media landscape was further pointed out in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where it was ranked 163rd out of 180 nations.
