Turkish court arrests journalist Müyesser Yıldız at midnight

Duvar English

A court has ruled for the arrest of Oda TV Ankara News Editor Müyesser Yıldız, adding her name to the dozens of journalists in prisons.

Yıldız was detained on June 8 in the capital Ankara over "political and military espionage" as part of a probe launched by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and was arrested early on June 12.

TELE 1 Ankara correspondent İsmail Dükel and a noncommissioned officer, identified only as E.B., were also detained as part of the ongoing probe.

Saat gecenin yarısı. Gazeteciler Müyesser Yıldız ve Müyesser Yıldız, mahkeme kapısında sorgu için bekletiliyor. pic.twitter.com/2g9l2ViWBt

— Alican Uludağ (@alicanuludag) June 11, 2020

The court ruled for the release of Dükel on condition of judicial control, while arresting E.B. and Yıldız due to "the existence of a crime suspicion, the possibility of destroying evidence and the possibility of fleeing."

Pictures from journalist Alican Uludağ's Twitter account showed both journalists waiting outside a courtroom at midnight.

Yıldız is the fourth currently imprisoned journalist from Oda TV.

In March, an Istanbul court arrested Oda TV news director Barış Terkoğlu and reporter Hülya Kılınç over a report covering the funeral of a member of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) killed in Libya.

They are accused of disclosing the identity of the intelligence agency official even though the name had been revealed by an opposition lawmaker a week earlier.

Turkish police detain journalists İsmail Dükel, Müyesser Yıldız

Oda TV editor-in-chief Barış Pehlivan was also arrested on the same charges a couple of days later.

On March 8, Yeniçağ columnist Murat Ağırel, Yeni Yaşam editor-in-chief Ferhat Çelik and the daily’s news editor Aydın Keser were arrested over the same story.