Journalist Uğur Dündar given prison sentence over joke about former PM

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Uğur Dündar, a renowned journalist and TV anchor, has been sentenced to prison because of a 2014 column article about Binali Yıldırım, the then transport minister who later became the prime minister.

The reason for the sentence was a wordplay about Yıldırım's first name, which literally means "son of Ali" in Arabic, but can also be interpreted as "a thousand Alis" and "bin" means "thousand" in Turkish.

"Thank God his name is Binali. It could be a Milyonali [a million Alis]!" Dündar had written about corruption claims against the politician.

At yesterday's (June 2) hearing at the Küçükçekmece 2nd Penal Court of First Instance, the prosecutor demanded Dündar be sentenced to up to 2 years and 4 months in prison for insult.

Dündar said his principles in journalism, which he has been doing for over half a century, is known by the public, and noted that Yıldırım had cited him as an "impartial and fair moderator" ahead of the 2019 local elections. He rejected the allegation.

The court sentenced Dündar to 11 months and 20 days in prison and converted the sentence to a judicial fine of 10,500 lira (~637 US dollars).

On September 11, 2019, Dündar was sentenced to 11 months and 20 days in prison for insulting Yıldırım, and the sentence was converted to a fine of reading a book at least two hours a day for 5 months and 25 days.

The Court of Cassation, the top appeals court of the country, had overturned the verdict. In the retrial, Yıldırım had withdrawn his complaint.

*The relevant article has been removed from the Sözcü newspaper's website.

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(HA/VK)