Journalist Reyhan Çapan, who used to be managing editor of the pro-Kurdish Özgür Gündem daily, which was closed by a government decree under a state of emergency declared in the aftermath of a controversial coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, was detained by Turkish police on Thursday in the Hopa district of Artvin province.
According to a report by the Mezopotamya news agency, Çapan was detained due to an outstanding detention warrant. Previously, the İstanbul 17th High Criminal Court had sentenced Çapan to one year, three months in prison. Following the approval of her sentence by a regional appeals court, a detention warrant was issued for Çapan.
Turkey is ranked 157th among 180 countries in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Wednesday. If Turkey falls two more places, it will make it to the list of countries on the blacklist, which have the poorest record in press freedom.
Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world. The most recent figures documented by SCF show that 254 journalists and media workers were in jail as of May 8, 2018, most in pretrial detention. Of those in prison 192 were under arrest pending trial while only 62 journalists have been convicted and are serving their time. Detention warrants are outstanding for 142 journalists who are living in exile or remain at large in Turkey.
Detaining tens of thousands of people over alleged links to the Gülen movement, the government also closed down some 200 media outlets, including Kurdish news agencies and newspapers, after the coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016.
