The İstanbul 33rd High Criminal Court on Thursday handed down a suspended 20-month sentence to a photojournalist on conviction of disseminating terrorist propaganda, Turkish media reported.
Çağdaş Erdoğan was taken into police custody in September 2017 while he was taking photographs in İstanbul’s Kadıköy district, on allegations of photographing a Turkish intelligence building in the area. After 11 days in custody, he was put in pretrial detention by a court on terrorism charges. Erdoğan was released pending trial in February 2018.
Although the court acquitted him of terrorist group membership, he was convicted of disseminating terrorist propaganda.
The most recent figures documented by SCF show that 182 journalists and media workers were in jail as of August 15, 2019. Of those in prison 85 were under arrest pending trial while 97 journalists have been convicted and are serving their time. Detention warrants are outstanding for 167 journalists who are living in exile or remain at large in Turkey. (SCF with turkishminute.com)
