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The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has appealed against the acquittal of journalist Melis Alphan, who was put on trial for posting a photo from the Diyarbakır Newroz in 2015 and acquitted of the offense charged in May 2021.

Facing 7.5 years in prison for posting a photo from the Diyarbakır Newroz in 2015, journalist Melis Alphan has been acquitted as the court board has concluded that she did not commit the offense charged.

“Turkey must immediately end the prosecution of Alphan and compensate her for the damage done to her during this baseless prosecution,” says International Press Institute’s Turkey Programme Coordinator Renan Akyavaş.

A lawsuit has been filed against journalist Melis Alphan over a photo that she posted. Alphan now faces up to 7 years, 6 months in prison over this photo from Newroz celebrations in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır.