Imprisoned journalist Müftüoğlu nominated for the Most Resilient Journalist Award

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Free Press Unlimited has nominated Dicle Müftüoğlu, co-chair of the Dicle Firat Journalists Association (DFG) and an imprisoned journalist, for the "Most Resilient Journalist Award."

Müftüoğlu is nominated for the award alongside Andersson Boscan from Ecuador and Philip Obaji from Nigeria. The winner of the award will be announced by the jury on October 24. The awards will be presented during an event in The Hague, Netherlands, on October 31, 2023.

Previous winners of the Most Resilient Journalist Award are the late Mantas Kvedaravičius (2022) (from Lithuania), Rozina Islam from Bangladesh (2021), and Maria Ressa from the Philippines (2020).

The profiles of the nominated journalists will be featured on Free Press Unlimited's social media accounts and website in the coming week.

About Dicle Müftüoğlu

Born in 1984 in Ağrı, Doğubeyazıt, Dicle Müftüoğlu graduated from Celal Bayar University with a degree in Biology. She worked as a journalist in various cities such as Istanbul, Diyarbakır, Mardin, and Şırnak starting from 2008. During her career, she took on roles as a reporter, editor, and managing editor at the organizations she worked for.

The Dicle News Agency (DİHA), where she worked as the managing editor was closed down with the Decree Law No. 676 published on October 29, 2016. Following the closure, she and her colleagues established a news website called dihaber. This site was also closed down with the Decree Law No. 693 in 2017.

In the same year, Müftüoğlu started working as an editor at Mezopotamya News Agency. In 2019, she, along with a group of colleagues, founded the Dicle Firat Journalists Association and became the co-chairperson.

She faced her first lawsuit in 2014 for a social media post. On December 2, 2020, at the first hearing of the trial held in Diyarbakır, Müftüoğlu was sentenced to one year and three months in prison for "making propaganda for a terrorist organization." The sentence was suspended.

She was a defendant in a trial where her colleague Aziz Oruç and the two were tried for "membership in a terrorist organization" and "making propaganda for a terrorist organization" in Ağrı 2nd Heavy Penal Court. In the trial, which concluded on January 18, 2023, Aziz Oruç was acquitted, while Müftüoğlu received a 5-month prison sentence.

On January 14, 2021, an investigation was launched against Müftüoğlu by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office based on the news she shared on her social media accounts, accusing her of "making propaganda for a terrorist organization." On the morning of June 3, 2022, a police raid was conducted on her home. After searching the house without her presence, the police called Müftüoğlu in for questioning. She was detained. After the interrogation at the prosecutor's office, she was referred to court with a request for judicial control measures. She was accused of sending money to her imprisoned colleagues Nedim Türfent and Ziya Ataman. A confidentiality order was imposed on the case.

Most recently, Müftüoğlu, along with Mezopotamya News Agency editor Sedat Yılmaz, who is also an editor at the BIA Children's Library and an author, were detained in Diyarbakır on April 29, citing an investigation launched by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. They were subsequently taken to Ankara. They stated that they were kept in handcuffs for 15 hours and and deprived of food for 24 hours during their journey to Ankara. After being referred to the Ankara Duty Peace Judgeship, they were arrested and Müftüoğlu was sent to the Sincan Women's Closed Prison.

On the occasion of April 22, Kurdish Journalists' Day (Roja Rojnamegerîya Kurdî), Dicle Müftüoğlu, in her responses to bianet's questions, said, "We believe that at the heart of the issue is the defense of journalism, press freedom, and the democratization of Turkey. We call on everyone to join the struggle together." 

(HA/PE)