2016 prison census - Turkey: Ali Akkus
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | 1 December 2016 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Turkey: Ali Akkus, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb850a.html [accessed 6 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
| Ali Akkus, Zaman | |
|---|---|
| Medium: | |
| Charge: | Anti-State |
| Imprisoned: | July 24-29, 2016 |
Police in Istanbul detained Ali Akkus, a former editor for the shuttered newspaper Zaman, as part of a sweeping purge of journalists and others suspected of following exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen, according to press press reports. The government accuses Gülen of maintaining a terrorist organization and "parallel state structure" (or FETÖ/PDY, as the government calls it) within Turkey that it blames for orchestrating a failed July 15, 2016, military coup.
The Committee to Protect Journalists could not find a published report indicating when police detained Akkus. The state-run Anadolu News Agency on July 25, 2016, reported that authorities had issued a warrant for his arrest. Istanbul's Fifth Court of Penal Peace late on July 29, 2016, arraigned Akkus and 16 other journalists, ordering them jailed pending trial on charges of "being members of an armed terrorist organization," according to the media monitoring group P24. The daily newspaper Hürriyet reported that the 17 journalists were questioned by prosecutors on accusations of "being members of an armed terrorist organization," "founding or leading an armed terrorist organization," "knowingly and willingly helping [a terrorist] organization without being involved in the organization's hierarchical structure," and "committing crimes in the name of a [terrorist] organization without being a member."
In March 2016 a court ordered Zaman's parent company, the Feza Media Group, put under the trusteeship of figures selected by the government, saying the company and the newspaper had ties to the Gülenist network. On July 27, 2016, the government used emergency powers it assumed after the July 2016 failed coup attempt to close the magazine, saying it was a FETÖ/PDY mouthpiece.
CPJ research shows that authorities have targeted dozens of former journalists from media outlets owned by the Feza Media Group with arrest and prosecution on terrorism charges since the failed July 2016 coup attempt.
News reports did not specify where the journalists were being held, and CPJ was unable to reach the journalists' lawyers. Dozens of other journalists jailed pending trial on similar accusations are being held in Istanbul's Silivri Prison.
