Two-Year Jail Term for Turkish Journalist Sedef Kabas
Turkish journalist, Sedef Kabas | Photo Credits: Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images
On Friday, a Turkish court sentenced journalist Sedef Kabas to a prison term of more than two years for insulting the president.
As of late January, Kasas has been detained pending trial for comments she made during a political talk show about Recep Tayyip Erdogan. She has since been released pending the outcome of her appeal. According to the One Free Press Coalition, the freelance journalist's case tops the list of most urgent media freedom cases.
Kabas and nine other female journalists were targeted by the coalition, which was made up of dozens of media outlets and nonprofits, in order to raise awareness of the risks they face.
Most of the women featured have been attacked or threatened because of their work. Several individuals are currently fighting court cases, including Kabas and Nobel Peace laureate Maria Ressa.
Reports indicate that 40 of the 293 journalists imprisoned for their work in December were women, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Online threats pose the most substantial risk, however, for female journalists. Both Reissa, who founded the Philippine news website Rappler, and freelance journalist Rana Ayyub, who appears on the list as well, have encountered extreme online harassment as a result of their reporting.
In 2020, more than 70% of women journalists reported experiencing online violence. UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists collaborated on the report. About a fifth of respondents said they had been attacked or abused because of online harassment.
In October, the ECHR called on Turkey to change its insult law. According to the report, the high number of detentions in violation of the law indicate that it violates freedom of expression.
The Associated Press reported that more than 160,000 investigations have been opened on suspicion of insults directed at Erdogan since 2014, the year he became president. More than 12,880 of those investigations have resulted in convictions.
According to the ECHR, Turkey must amend its laws to give citizens the freedom to express their opinions and ideas without government interference.
