Turkish court arrests journalist for reporting publicly available information about case hearing

Duvar English

An Istanbul court on Dec. 29 arrested online news outlet Gerçek Gündem editor Furkan Karabay for reporting about a hearing based on its publicly available report.

Karabay is facing charges of “targeting the person who took part in the fight against terrorism” and “defamation,” Gerçek Gündem reported.

Karabay’s reporting regarding the case of Barış Saral, one of the leading names of the “organized crime group” Sarallar, was banned from access.

After the police detained Karabay, they asked him “Did you write the reporting? Why did you target members of the judiciary?”

In response, Karabay said he did not target the members of the judiciary in the reporting.

“The statements in the hearing held at the Istanbul 10th High Criminal Court, in which Barış Saral was the defendant, were the subject of the reporting. The reporting was made within the scope of journalistic activities, without any special comments and without distorting or changing the statements at the hearing,” Karabay said.

Then, he was asked “How and in what way did you find these statements? Did anyone specifically instruct you to make such reporting?”

“As a journalist, I act on behalf of the public interest, not on instructions. A short video containing Barış Saral's words in the courtroom was shared on social media. Then, I accessed the hearing report and brought the issue to the agenda. Although I am not obliged to disclose my source within the scope of the press law, I would like to point out that anyone can access the hearing report in question,” he responded.

“In its 2023 Balance Sheet, RSF listed Turkey, along with Iran, among the countries with the ‘highest activity’ in arbitrarily arresting and releasing journalists during the year. 43 journalists in Turkey and 58 journalists in Iran passed through prison in 2023. With the arrest of Karabay, this number increased to 44,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“Karabay's arrest is proof of the corruption in the judiciary. Our colleague will be released from prison and will not bow to intimidation and will continue to report on this corruption,” Journalists’ Union of Turkey said.

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