Turkey: Ruken Demir Acquitted In Terror Case Based On Her Coverage Of Hunger Strikes In Prisons
Location: Turkey, İzmir
Date: February 9, 2022Available in: 🇹🇷 Türkçe
A court in İzmir acquitted Mesopotamia Agency reporter Ruken Demir in a terror-related case on Wednesday ending a legal ordeal that spanned over two years. Ruken stood trial for “membership in a terrorist organization” charge based events she attended in her capacity as a reporter and phone conversations she had with news sources. The Coalition For Women In Journalism welcomes this decision and hopes similar decisions in other cases of legal harassment will follow suit.
At the ninth hearing of the case the İzmir 19th High Criminal Court acquitted the journalist of all charges citing lack of evidence against her. At the previous hearing the prosecutor had sought a conviction and argued that the journalists reports on hunger strikes in prisons and inmate conditions were propaganda. He called into question phone conversations made for these reports and argued that documents found in the digital equipment seized from Ruken belonged to a terrorist organization.
Ruken was arrested from her home in November 2019. The police raided her home and held her in pre-trial detention for nearly four months. While in police custody, Ruken and her colleague Melike Aydın, who was arrested around the same time, were subjected to inhumane treatment. They were beaten, forced to submit to a strip search, denied correspondence and visits to the hospital. Ruken was accused of leaking information even while she was incarcerated.
She was released after a brutal 115 days in prison when the trial began in March 2020. However, a trial ban was imposed on her as part of the conditions for her release.
While the Coalition For Women In Journalism welcomes Ruken Demir’s acquittal, we reiterate that the charges against her were unfounded to begin with. Ruken should never have been subjected to legal harassment and unjust incarceration to begin with. In 2022 alone, the CFWIJ has followed 17 legal cases filed against critical journalists in connection with their work. We have observed a pattern of weaponization of the country’s anti-terrorism laws to intimidate and silence members of the press. We call on Turkey to quit this practice and uphold the rights of a free press, of citizens’ right to information and free speech.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
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