'A political decision': Press Council calls for journalist Sedef Kabaş’s immediate release

* Photo: Başak Akbulut Yazar / AA

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The Press Council has released a statement about the continued arrest of journalist Sedef Kabaş, who has been jailed for "insulting the President" following a program that she attended on TELE 1.

Referring to the İstanbul 58th Criminal Court of First Instance's rejection of lawyer Uğur Poyraz's appeal against his client Kabaş's arrest, the Press Council has defined it as a "political decision".

"As it was also the case with the detention and arrest of journalist Sedef Kabaş over her remarks on TV, the decision to reject her lawyer's appeal and to rule for her continued arrest is concrete evidence of how much the judiciary has been politicized," the Press Council has said.

Raising concerns that "the unlawfulness that began with Sedef Kabaş's detention at 2 at night on charge of insulting the President unfortunately continues," the Press Council has recalled that "while Sedef Kabaş should have been free pending trial on the offense charged, she was hastily arrested and she is still held in prison as the rightful appeal lodged with the legal grounds cited has been dismissed, which is contrary to both the domestic laws of Turkey and the international law."

Accusing "the ministers, partisan bureaucrats and ruling party spokespersons" of "making statements with one voice to influence the judiciary and to hinder the release of Sedef Kabaş", the Press Council has stated that "with this decision, they have attained their goal".

The Council has noted that "the politicization of the judiciary and the rulings handed down by courts under the influence of politics cause Turkey to get farther and farther away from the modern world."

Concluding its statement, the Press Council has said, "We, as the Press Council, request that the attempted lynchning and aggrievement targeting Sedef Kabaş come to an end, the judiciary be freed from the pressure under which it has found itself, our friend be released as soon as possible and the trial be held with her being free pending trial."

What happened?

Journalist Sedef Kabaş was arrested on January 22 for "insulting the President" because of her words during a live broadcast a week ago.

"There is a famous saying, 'A crowned head will get wiser.' But we see that this isn't the reality. There is also a saying that is the exact opposite: 'When cattle go into a palace, they don't become the king; the palace becomes a barn'," Kabaş said during a program on TELE1 TV on January 14.

A week later, she posted the second quote on her Twitter and Instagram accounts as a "Circassian proverb," replacing the word "cattle" with "ox."

Shortly after, at around 2 a.m. on Saturday, she was detained during a police raid. Hours later, a penal judgeship of peace remanded her in custody.

The İstanbul 58th Criminal Court of First Instance has rejected the appeal against the pre-trial detention of journalist Sedef Kabaş, who has been arrested for "insulting the President" following a program that she attended on TELE 1 and sent to Bakırköy Prison in İstanbul. (HA/SD)