'Terror' case against journalist because 'soldiers entered frame' during live broadcast
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The Konya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has filed a lawsuit against journalist Fırat Can Arslan for "marking counterterrorism officials as a target" over the coverage of the funeral of a Kurdish journalist.
The reason for the allegation was that gendarmerie officers "entered the frame" during the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya Agency's (MA) coverage of the funeral.
Nagihan Akarsel, a journalist and academic, was killed in an armed attack on October 4 outside her house in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan.
The indictment against Arslan mentions Akarsel as a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and alleges that Arslan had covered her funeral "in line with the organization's purposes and ideology."
The prosecutor demanded a prison sentence for the journalist of from one to three years as per article 6 of the Anti-Terror Law.
The Konya 2nd Heavy Penal Court accepted the indictment. The first hearing will take place on May 25.
CLICK - Killed Kurdish journalist Nagihan Akarsel's funeral held under heavy police presence
The killing of Akarsel
Nagihan Akarsel, a Kurdish journalist from Türkiye, had been living in Iraqi Kurdistan for years as part of her studies on jineology, which means "science of women" in Kurdish. She was a member of the Jineology Research Center and an editor for the Jineology Magazine.
Between 2008 and 2014, she worked as a journalist for the Türkiye-based Dicle News Agency (DİHA), which was shut down by a statutory decree in 2016.
She was shot dead outside of her home in Kurdistan's Sulaymaniyah on October 4.
The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said she was the fifth Kurdish person from Türkiye to be attacked in Iraqi Kurdistan in the past year.
Kurdistan police announced that the perpetrator had been nabbed within hours after the attack.
Media outlets in Kurdistan reported that the assailant had traveled to Iraq from Türkiye, citing security sources. (HA/VK)