Mehmet Şahin, a TV show host at PEL Production Company and columnist for the Kurdish-language weekly Xwebün, is on release pending trial after he was taken into police custody – alongside 14 Kurdish journalists and a media worker - in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakır in June 2022.
In April 2023, after around 10 months in jail, Şahin, the 15 others who were detained alongside him, plus three other journalists, who were not arrested, were indicted on the charge of “being a member of a (terrorist) organization”. Their trial began on July 11, 2023, in Diyarbakır and the next day, it was reported that 15 of the defendants, including Şahin, were released pending the outcome of the trial. Another defendant, Safiye Alagaş, was earlier released pending trial in June.
The trial continues in Diyarbakır with the next hearing set for November 10, 2026.
As of August 2026, Şahin and the other defendants remain under a foreign travel ban.
Şahin is a former educator and a Kurdish linguist who writes columns for Xwebün and hosts a debate show on politics for PEL. The weekly newspaper Xwebün started publication in December 2019 and focuses on the Kurdish language, politics, culture and history. PEL produces Kurdish-focused journalistic content, including documentaries and shows on news, culture, arts, and political debates, and sells the content to European-based, pro-Kurdish broadcasters, his lawyer, Resul Temur, told CPJ.
Case history
In the early hours of June 8, 2022, Diyarbakır police raided several locations in the city, including journalists’ houses and newsrooms and took into custody 20 journalists and media workers, along with a citizen who was once interviewed by one of the journalists. On June 15, 15 of those journalists, including Şahin, and one media worker were jailed by a court pending trial.
Temur, who represents the 15 journalists and the media worker, told independent news website Bianet in 2022 that his clients were questioned about the angle they took on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a militant group and political party that Turkey classifies as a terrorist group, and whether the content the journalists created for broadcast by European outlets was considered pro-PKK. Most of the journalists either work for pro-Kurdish media outlets or independent production companies that provide content for other outlets, according to news reports and CPJ’s interviews with local journalists.
Temur told CPJ in an in-person interview in early November 2022 that his clients were being held at Diyarbakır Prison and remained under arrest but had not been indicted. He added that while the defense had not been informed of the details of the case, the authorities were focusing on content produced by the local ARİ, PEL, and PIA production companies, which produce Kurdish-focused content including shows on news, culture, arts, and political debates, and documentaries. That content is broadcast by European-based, pro-Kurdish broadcasters Sterk TV and Medya TV. Temur said his clients are not employees of these broadcasters, which buy the content from a distributor that works with ARİ, PEL, and PIA. The content was also made available on YouTube after their broadcasts, the lawyer added.
Diyarbakır courts denied the journalists’ appeals of their arrests and their pretrial detention on August 22 and September 8, 2022.
CPJ emailed the Turkish Ministry of Justice in October 2022 and September 2026 for comment but did not receive any reply.