Turkey: two journalists jailed for “incitement to armed uprising”
Turkish journalists Cevheri Güven and Murat Çapan, working for the weekly magazine Nokta, have been charged and jailed by a court in Istanbul last Tuesday 3 November. Güven is the editor-in-chief of the publication and Çapan, the managing editor in charge.
Their pretrial incarceration is officially justified by particularly severe charges: “incitement to armed uprising against the government”. The cover title of the latest issue of Nokta was: “Monday, 2nd November: the beginning of a civil war in Turkey”. The last remaining copies of the newspaper have been seized by the police and the Nokta website has been blocked.
Murat Çapan was already facing prosecution for “insulting the President” and “doing propaganda on behalf of terrorist organisation”. Actually, he had published a Nokta front cover depicting President Erdogan taking a selfie next to the coffin of a soldier.
The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ and IFJ) have together submitted this case to the Council of Europe (CoE)’s platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety for journalists.
Even if everyone else is mute NOKTA will not remain silent! pic.twitter.com/R5i37DsvEb
— NOKTA (@noktadergi) 4 Novembre 2015
(Photo and video credits: Nokta)
