Deccan Chronicle

Turkey jails 6 journos of Oppn paper for ’16 coup Morocco arrests YouTuber, scribe

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Istanbul, Dec. 27: A Turkish court on Friday issued jail terms to six journalist­s from an opposition newspaper accused of links to the group blamed by the government for the 2016 failed coup.

The court in Istanbul sentenced journalist­s from the Sozcu daily including columnist Emin Colasan and editor-inchief Metin Yilmaz to prison terms ranging from two years and one month to three years and six months on terrorism charges, their lawyer Celal Ulgen said.

The nationalis­t Sozcu is on occasion vehemently anti-government and its angry front pages are regarded with suspicion even by some liberal Turks critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It is the second opposition daily to be targeted after the Cumhuriyet.

“This is an empty case,” Mr Colasan was quoted by the paper as telling the court. “There is no evidence

Rabat, Dec. 27: Moroccan authoritie­s have sentenced a Youtuber who criticised the king to prison, and detained a journalist-activist who defended anti-government protesters.

Freedom of speech advocates say the moves reflect growing pressure against those who use social media to speak on economic problems.

A court in Settat handed a four-year prison sentence to Mohammed Bekkaki for referring to

or witness against us.” Sozcu condemned the verdict as a “black stain”, saying those convicted were only carrying out their work as journalist­s.

The court also sentenced the newspaper's accountant

Moroccans as donkeys and criticisin­g King Mohammed VI, in a video posted on YouTube in November.

Journalist Omar Radi was detained in Casablanca and charged with insulting a judge. Radi’s arrest was prompted by a tweet six months ago criticizin­g a court decision to hand maximum prison sentences to leaders of mass demonstrat­ions in the povertystr­icken northern Rif region. to two years and one month in prison.

It said the case against its owner Burak Akbay, who is the subject of a 2017 arrest warrant but remains abroad, would be treated separately

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