Defendants: Ali Ünal

Media Outlet and Position: Zaman newspaper – Columnist

Status: Imprisoned

Facility: Buca Prison, Izmir

Accusations: Founding and leading a terrorist organization; membership in a terrorist organization; Attempt to overthrow the constitutional order

Possible sentence:  Life sentence and additional sentence up to 20 years

Court: Uşak 2. High Criminal Court

Case Background: 

Ali Ünal, a former columnist for now-closed Zaman newspaper, and his brother Mustafa Ünal, also a  journalist for daily Zaman,  were arrested after the 15-July coup attempt. Ali Ünal’s 17 articles published in Zaman are reportedly presented as evidence of a crime.

Ünal was arrested on August 14, 2016, at his home in the western province of Uşak. He is charged with membership of a terrorist organization and imprisoned at Buca Prison facility in Izmir since August 15, 2016.

Ünal is accused of being a follower of Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Turkey’s government accuses of having established a “parallel state structure” and blames for the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt.

During one of the hearings in January 2018, the court separated the cases of the two brothers.

During the latest hearing on July 18, the prosecution demanded aggravated life sentence on charges of “Attempt to overthrow the constitutional order” and an additional sentence from 15 to 20 years in prison on charges of “aiding and abetting the aforementioned crime”  for Ali Ünal.

Ünal’s sixth hearing will take place on November 14, 2018.

His brother Mustafa Ünal, held in pre-trial detention since July 30, 2016, is being tried on similar charges with Ali Ünal.

On April 27, 2017, an Istanbul court accepted an indictment against Mustafa Ünal and 29 other former Zaman Media Group employees that accuses them of attempting to overthrow the government, the Constitution and Parliament, and which seeks three consecutive life sentences for each suspect. The indictment also seeks another 15 years for each suspect on charges of being members of a terrorist organization.

The indictment alleges that Zaman, which was founded in 1986, was fully taken over by the Gülen movement the following year and was able to continue operating only because of the group’s financial support. It also accuses the group of “using the media as a weapon” to “manipulate society”, and alleges that Zaman employed “columnists with ideas that could have supported the organization”. The newspaper was shuttered in May 2016 after it was seized by the state.

During previous hearings, the court decided to separate the cases of the 30 defendants, all employees of Zaman who were initially charged together in one case. During the most recent hearing on April 27-30, 2018, a case pertaining to 18 defendants was decided,  sentencing 13 of them to various prison terms and acquitting the other five.

In March 2016, an Istanbul court ordered the Feza Media Group, which owned Zaman,  be placed under trustees appointed by the government. Zaman was closed by government decree on July 27, 2016.

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