MA journalist Ahmet Kanbal sentenced to over a year in prison in Aydin

Journalist Ahmet Kanbal from Mezopotamya Agency (MA) has been sentenced to one year and three months in prison in Aydin. The correspondent is accused of terrorism charges. The background is a tweet with a quote from human rights lawyer Eren Keskin, which Kanbal shared on Twitter. The case was launched by a notorious jandarma commander, Musa Çitil, who is named in the tweet.

Ahmet Kanbal and his defense lawyer Erdal Kuzu attended the hearing before the Aydin Criminal Court via video link from Mardin. In his defense, Kanbal stated that he was doing his job and that Çitil was publicly known because of his position as deputy general commander. “His CV is available on the official website of the Jandarma General Command. He has been accused of rapes and murders in Mardin in the past, which has been widely reported in the media. Although he was acquitted in the local courts, he was found guilty in the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.”

Kanbal pointed out that in Amed seven journalists accused of the same charges were acquitted.

The court did not follow this reasoning for the judgment and also added that the enforcement of the sentence cannot be suspended due to Kanbal’s personality and the existing risk of repetition. Kanbal’s defense lawyer Erdal Kuzu announced an appeal against the verdict.

Targeted by Turkish judiciary

Ahmet Kanbal has been targeted by the Turkish judiciary for years. In a number of cases, the reporter had to answer for alleged terrorist propaganda, for example, for reports on corruption in the trustee-governed councils in Kurdish cities or for articles in connection with the Turkish war of aggression against the formerly self-governing canton of Afrin in northern Syria in 2018. Two years ago, Kanbal was charged under the controversial Article 301, which prohibits “insulting the Turkish nation, the state of the Turkish Republic and the institutions and organs of the state”.