CPJ believes that Öktem may have been imprisoned because of his work as a reporter for the leftist magazine Devrimci Emek, which we believe to have been the target of a state harassment campaign.
Öktem was arrested for alleged membership in the Turkish Communist Labor Party-Leninist and tried under Articles 146/1, 168/2, and 169 of the Penal Code. Prosecution documents state that Öktem was accused of participating in throwing Molotov cocktails, burning a city bus, hanging leftist banners in Istanbul, and organizing illegal demonstrations. He is said to be held in Bayrampasa Prison.
