Turkey jails journalists for blasphemous cartoon

ankara — An Istanbul court on Thursday sentenced two prominent Turkish journalists to two years behind bars for illustrating their columns with a blasphemous cartoon published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

The sentence, which was handed to two columnists from the opposition Cumhuriyet daily, intensified alarm over press freedoms in Turkey under strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“The two journalists were sentenced to two years each in jail,” said Bulent Utku, lawyer for Hikmet Cetinkaya and Ceyda Karan. “We will appeal the ruling at the appeals court,” Utku said following a hearing at Istanbul’s criminal court. The pair went on trial in January last year on charges of “inciting public hatred” and “insulting religious values” after illustrating their columns with the controversial cartoon.

On January 14, 2015, Cumhuriyet had published a four-page Charlie Hebdo pullout translated into Turkish marking the French satirical weekly’s first issue since a deadly attack on its Paris offices by militant gunmen earlier that month.

Days before Cumhuriyet printed its special pullout edition, Davutoglu had joined dozens of other world leaders in a march of solidarity in memory of the 17 victims killed in the Charlie Hebdo attacks and elsewhere in Paris.

Cumhuriyet has been regularly targeted by prosecutions as concerns grow over freedom of speech in Turkey.

Its editor-in-chief Can Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul are currently on trial on charges of revealing state secrets and could face multiple life sentences if found guilty. —