Istanbul, January 28, 2025—A court in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakır on Tuesday found journalist Safiye Alagaş guilty of membership in a terrorist organization and sentenced her to six years and three months in prison. Alagaş, who spent a year behind bars in pretrial arrest, remains free pending appeal.
“The evidence brought against Kurdish journalist Safiye Alagaş consists of her professional journalism and does not support accusations that she was a member of a terrorist organization, as indicated by one of the judges’ dissenting from the guilty verdict,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Turkish authorities should not fight Alagaş in her upcoming appeal and stop equating journalism with terrorism.”
Alagaş, a former news editor for the pro-Kurdish JİNNEWS, was charged with being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey has designated as a terrorist organization. The case began in June 2023, and the evidence against her was based on her journalism, according to CPJ’s review of the indictment and monitoring of her first hearing.
Alagaş was elected co-mayor of the southeastern province of Siirt during the trial. Lawyers for Alagaş said their client would not have been found guilty if she lost the mayoral election.
One of the three judges in Alagaş’s case dissented from the guilty verdict, adding that the requirements defined by the law for the crime to have been committed were not fulfilled, according to CPJ’s review of the verdict.
CPJ’s email to the Diyarbakır chief prosecutor did not receive a response.