Police in Istanbul took Atilla Taş into custody on November 9, 2018, after a local appeals court upheld a 37-month and 15-day prison sentence, according to reports. A court on March 8, 2018, had convicted Taş of "knowingly and willingly aiding a [terrorist] organization," alongside other defendants, but released him pending appeal, CPJ documented at the time.
The journalist’s lawyer, Yaman Akdeniz, told the independent news website Bianet that the journalist would be able to apply for probation in January 2019. Lawyers representing the journalists in the trial told CPJ the case will be taken to the Supreme Court of Appeals.
Taş, a pop singer turned columnist for the now shuttered daily Meydan, was included in CPJ’s 2016 prison census after being detained on August 31, 2016. The journalist handed himself into police after learning from news reports that he was wanted on suspicion of being a follower of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen, whom the Turkish government accuses of maintaining a terrorist organization and parallel state structure within Turkey. Authorities say that the Fethullah Gülen Terror Organization, or FETÖ as the government calls it, was behind the failed attempted coup in July 2016.
Taş was detained until October 15, 2017, when a court ordered him to be released pending the outcome of his trial, according to local reports at the time.
The journalist is being detained in Istanbul’s Silivri prison, according to a November 12 tweet by Akdeniz.