Prominent Turkish journalists on trial over failed coup
ISTANBUL: The trial started on Monday of 17 people, mostly journalists, accused of links to last year’s failed coup attempt in Turkey, amid heightened concerns for press freedoms.
The defendants include prominent journalist Nazli Ilicak, former newspaper chief editor Ahmet Altan and his brother Mehmet Altan, an economics PBS Sport is launching in the region on Arabsat in alliance with Egypt and will be based in Cairo.
JEDDAH: The frequency of a new unencrypted sports TV network that will replace the blocked Qatari beIN Sports is set to be announced on Wednesday, Saudi Media City Chairman Muflih Al-Hafatah said on Twitter.
professor and writer. They have been accused of having prior knowledge of the coup attempt — which has been blamed on US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen — and of supporting it.
The three, who were staunch government critics, face life in prison if found guilty of charges. They are accused of “attempting to remove the constitutional sports channels, Al-Hafatah said. The new PBS network will include 11 channels in high definition (HD). All channels will use the 4K-resolution technology.
PBS Sport announced on its official Twitter account that it has signed a contract with the Argentinian veteran footballer Diego Maradona order” and “committing a crime on behalf of an armed terrorist group without being a member of it, Turkish Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Ilicak and the Altan brothers are among six jailed defendants. Ten other suspects, including Ekrem Dumanli, the former editor in chief of the Gulen-linked Zaman newspaper,
“Away from politics and ranging of our policies in our homeland, we won’t allow a state that sponsors terrorism to monopolize television entertainment in our Arab countries,” Al-Hafatah tweeted, in reference to Qatar.
The Qatar network broadcasts popular football tournaments such as Spanish La Liga and Copa del Rey, UEFA Europa League, and English are at large and being tried in absentia. Another defendant is free pending the verdict.
Reporters Without Borders, the media advocacy group, called for the immediate release of Ilicak and the Altan brothers, who have been in pre-trial detention since July and September.
“It is high time that the Turkish Premier League.
Prices announced on the PBS Sport Twitter account are SR80 ($21) for monthly subscriptions, SR400 ($106) for six months and SR750 ($200) for a year.
What potential subscribers are looking for from the new service is a variety of sports analysis and commentary, and high quality in the broadcasting of games.
“Fast planning to establish high-quality new sports channels is challenging and needs time and preparation,” Khalid Attiya, 43-year-old football tournaments enthusiast, told Arab News.
Attiya currently has a beIN Sports subscription that he renewed on May 1, a month before the Qatari crisis, for which he paid SR1,350 ($360).
“I have not received any notification that my current subscription would be suspended,” he added.
Among the rights that beIN Sports has already bought were the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup matches.
Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Awwad Al-Awwad had previously said that Saudis working at Qatar’s beIN would be compensated with local jobs in parallel positions.
The upcoming PBS Sport channels are now accepting job applications from new talents, particularly commentators and presenters, the PBS Sport Twitter account posted. authorities ended their systematic criminalization of critics,” the group said. “The already worrying situation of its media has become critical under the state of emergency proclaimed after the 2016 coup attempt.”
Turkey has arrested some 50,000 people in a massive crackdown following the failed coup and dismissed tens of thousands of other people from government jobs. Around 150 media organizations have been closed down and more than 100 journalists have been jailed.
Gulen, who is in self-imposed exile in the US, has denied involvement in the coup attempt.