Defendants: Abdullah Kaya

Media Outlet and Position: Dicle News Agency – Correspondent

Status: Convicted

Facility: Rize L-type Prison

Accusations: Membership of a terrorist organization; Purposely aiding and abetting a terrorist organization whilst not being a member

Possible Sentences: –

Court: Ağrı 2. High Criminal Court

Case Background: 

Abdullah (Abdulhalik) Kaya, Ağrı correspondent for the Dicle News Agency (DİHA), was arrested on December 24, 2017, after his sentence of four years and two months in prison on the charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” were approved by the court. He is currently convicted and sentenced to 4 years and 2 months imprisonment.

Kaya had been detained on January 21, 2017, in the case following a police raid on his house in Turkey’s Ağrı province and  was released on May 11, pending trial after almost four months in detention.

Kaya is also facing a second trial on charges of “purposely aiding and abetting a terrorist organization whilst not being a member” due to photos he took during a festival in 2014, Ağrı. Photos, in which outlawed Kurdish organization PKK flags are seen, were cited as criminal evidence. Read more on his case.

Next hearing takes place on September 24.

DİHA was shut down by order of a decree law, along with 14 other media outlets, on October 29, 2016.