Turkey court jails opposition journalist
Four other journalists including reporter Baris Pehlivan, who conducted the interview with a forensic official, were released.
ISTANBUL: A court in Turkey ordered the arrest Thursday of a journalist from an opposition television channel accused of broadcasting a secretly recorded interview with a state official, the media outlet said.
Halk TV said its editor-in-chief Suat Toktas had been jailed because he made the decision to broadcast an interview about an investigation into Istanbul’s opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
“I am accused of ridiculous allegations,” Toktas told the court, according to the television outlet.
“What we have done is a true journalism.”
Halk TV is is close to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Four other journalists including reporter Baris Pehlivan, who conducted the interview with a forensic official, were released.
Authorities claimed that the phone interview was recorded and broadcast without consent.
Imamoglu, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, is due to appear before the public prosecutor on Friday over the interview. He is already facing several other legal proceedings.
Imamoglu had criticised the forensic expert, saying he had been appointed in investigations launched against CHP-held municipalities and was biased.
That claim prompted authorities to summon Imamoglu before prosecutors who accused him of “attemping to influence the judiciary”.
-AFP
