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ISTANBUL: A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced the exiled former editor-in-chief of the opposition Cumhuriyet daily to more than 27 years in jail on charges of aiding a terror group and espionage.
The court in Istanbul found Can Dundar, who fled to Germany in 2016, guilty in connection with a story about an alleged Turkish arms shipment to Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
He was sentenced to 18 years and nine months for “securing confidential information for espionage” and eight years and nine months for “aiding a terrorist group” led by US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen.
The Turkish government blames the cleric for orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey is regularly accused by rights advocates of undermining press freedom by arresting journalists and shutting down critical media outlets.
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists listed Turkey among top jailers after China in its annual global report last week.
It found 37 journalists imprisoned this year — less than half the number arrested in 2016 around the time of the coup attempt.
Dundar was jailed in 2015 along with Cumhuriyet’s then Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul over the paper’s report on the alleged transfer of weapons to Syrian insurgents on trucks operated by Turkey’s MIT intelligence service.
The pair were released in February 2016 thanks to a Constitutional Court ruling which said their 92-day detention violated their rights to liberty and freedom of the press.
An Istanbul court sentenced Dundar to nearly six years in May 2016 for “obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to the security of the state”.
Dundar was shot at by an assailant outside Istanbul’s main courthouse during that hearing but escaped the apparent assassination attempt with no injuries.
The Supreme Court of Appeals reversed Dundar and Gul’s conviction in 2018.
An Istanbul court then started the retrial of Dundar and Gul in May 2018.
Turkish authorities had already issued an arrest warrant against Dundar and requested his extradition from Germany, where he has been settled with his wife.
A Turkish court ordered the seizure of his property and froze his Turkish bank accounts in October.
The court in Istanbul found Can Dundar, who fled to Germany in 2016, guilty in connection with a story about an alleged Turkish arms shipment to Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
He was sentenced to 18 years and nine months for “securing confidential information for espionage” and eight years and nine months for “aiding a terrorist group” led by US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen.
The Turkish government blames the cleric for orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey is regularly accused by rights advocates of undermining press freedom by arresting journalists and shutting down critical media outlets.
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists listed Turkey among top jailers after China in its annual global report last week.
It found 37 journalists imprisoned this year — less than half the number arrested in 2016 around the time of the coup attempt.
Dundar was jailed in 2015 along with Cumhuriyet’s then Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul over the paper’s report on the alleged transfer of weapons to Syrian insurgents on trucks operated by Turkey’s MIT intelligence service.
The pair were released in February 2016 thanks to a Constitutional Court ruling which said their 92-day detention violated their rights to liberty and freedom of the press.
An Istanbul court sentenced Dundar to nearly six years in May 2016 for “obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to the security of the state”.
Dundar was shot at by an assailant outside Istanbul’s main courthouse during that hearing but escaped the apparent assassination attempt with no injuries.
The Supreme Court of Appeals reversed Dundar and Gul’s conviction in 2018.
An Istanbul court then started the retrial of Dundar and Gul in May 2018.
Turkish authorities had already issued an arrest warrant against Dundar and requested his extradition from Germany, where he has been settled with his wife.
A Turkish court ordered the seizure of his property and froze his Turkish bank accounts in October.
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