Türkiye sentences a journalist under 'disinformation law' for first time

Sinan Aygül had tweeted about allegations of child abuse against security, but deleted the tweets a few hours later, apologizing for sharing unconfirmed information.

İstanbul

Türkiye sentences a journalist under 'disinformation law' for first time

Aygül (m) reading out a statement outside of the courthouse.

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Journalist Sinan Ayül has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for "spreading disinformation," becoming the first journalist to be sentenced under the "disinformation law" enacted in October.

The case had been opened after Aygül shared allegations about a child abuse case involving security officers on Twitter, which he had deleted later.

He was remanded in custody on December 14 on suspicion of spreading disinformation, and spent eight days behind bars.

The Tatvan 1st Penal Court of Peace yesterday (February 28) heard the first hearing of the case.

Özgür Öğret, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) representative in türkiye, and Ülkü Şahin, a lawyer with the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS), also followed the hearing.

In protest of the "disinformation law," Aygül refused to make a defense at the hearing.

His lawyers demanded the court stall the trial due to the Constitutional Court's examination of the law. The opposition had applied to the top court, demanding the annulment of the legislation. The court rejected the request.

Submitting their opinion as to the accusations, the prosecutor requested a prison sentence of from 1 to 3 years for the journalist on the allegation of "openly disseminating misleading information."

The court sentenced the journalist to 10 months in prison and did not defer the announcement of the verdict.

The 'disinformation law'

According to the "Law on the Amendment of the Press Law and Some Laws" enacted in October 2022, those who "spread disinformation" will face up to three years in prison.

Article 29 - Openly disseminating information misleading the public

The following provisions were added to article 217 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237 dated 26/9/2004:

Article 217/A- (1) Anyone who spreads information about internal or external security of the country, public order and public health which is not true just in order to create concern, fear, or panic among people in a manner that domestic peace may be disrupted will be punished with imprisonment sentence of one to three years.

(2) If the crime is committed by an offender concealing their identity or within the framework of organizational activity, the penalty will be increased half fold."

(VK)