Turkey frees journalist after almost 2 years in jail

ISTANBUL: Turkish journalist Mehmet Altan was Wednesday freed after almost two years in jail in a case that intensified concerns about freedom of expression under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Altan, first arrested in September 2016 for alleged links to the group blamed for the 2016 failed coup and then sentenced to life jail, was released from the Silivri prison outside Istanbul following an earlier court ruling, the P24 press freedom group said in a statement.

His conviction and life sentence have not been quashed and he remains subject to a travel ban and obligation to report to authorities regularly.

The constitutional court in January had ruled that Altan should be released on the grounds his rights had been violated but, to the fury of his supporters, a lower criminal court ignored this and he remained in jail.

The European Court of Human Rights had in March also ruled that Altan’s human rights had been violated by his detention.

“I am freed after 21 months, when I should never have been taken into custody,” P24 quoted him as saying outside the jail where he was welcomed by friends and colleagues.

“Let my release be some hope on the way to law and democracy,” he added.

“Got willing this will mark an end to this persecution.” Wednesday’s ruling was made by an Istanbul regional court which heard his appeal and based its decision on the previous ‘binding’ ruling of the constitutional court.

“The release of Mehmet Altan was long overdue,” Amnesty International’s Europe Director Gauri van Gulik said in a statement.

“His imprisonment was a travesty of justice that was emblematic of the deep flaws within the Turkish justice system.”

Altan, an economics professor and columnist for top newspapers, was sentenced to life in jail in February alongside other prominent suspects including his brother Ahmet, a writer and novelist, and veteran journalist Nazli Ilicak. — AFP