Turkey: CFWIJ Denounces Another Lawsuit Against Journalist Sedef Kabaş
Location: Turkey, Istanbul
Date: March 9, 2023Available in: 🇹🇷 Türkçe
Journalist Sedef Kabaş has been slapped with yet another “insulting the president” lawsuit. Kabaş was held in pre-trial detention for 49 days over the same charge last year. The Coalition For Women In Journalism demands that all charges against Kabaş are immediately dismissed.
Journalist Sedef Kabaş is on the receiving end of yet another lawsuit against her. The lawsuit is of the same nature as the one Kabaş faced almost one year ago, on March 11, 2022. On January 22, 2022, Kabaş was arrested for reciting a proverb on a television show aired on Tele 1. Kabaş was indicted by prosecutor Türkşad Kunthan Uçuk on February 11, 2022. After being held in pre-trial detention for 49 days, an Istanbul court sentenced Kabaş to two years and four months in prison for “insulting the president.”
This time around, Kabaş stands accused of again attempting to "dishonor" the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, through numerous tweets. The prosecutor who cited 25 tweets as evidence against Kabaş claimed that there is an “intention to dishonor” the president and requested the journalist to be sentenced. The court set a date for the first hearing only in seven days.
In her statement, she provided to the prosecutor, Kabaş drew attention to the legal harassment she has been subjected to and stated that “Criticism is one of the fundamental principles of journalistic duty.”
A year apart, the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office indicted the journalist with “insulting the president.” Prosecutor Burhan Ergar filed the indictment on February 10, 2023.
Among 25 tweets the prosecutor cited against Kabaş, two tweets stand out. A tweet Kabaş had shared on her personal account on January 7, 2021, was presented as evidence against the journalist despite the fact the remarks in the tweet do not belong to the journalist. Kabaş simply translated the remarks of an NBC reporter who called President Erdoğan “a dictator” while commenting on the statement issued by Mustafa Şentop, the Grand National Assembly speaker, following the United States Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.
In another tweet, on February 17, 2021, Kabaş had simply transmitted the words of IYI Party leader Meral Akşener who called Erdoğan “unsensible” because of his comments about the captured soldiers.
Among the tweets shared by Kabaş in a five-year period, between 2016 and 2021, are also tweets containing the journalist’s criticism of the vaccination policy during the Covid-19 pandemic. Other tweets contained the then-popular question “Where is the 128 billion dollars?” referring to allegations directed by opposition parties in 2021 that 128 billion dollars were missing in the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey reserves.
The Istanbul Anatolian 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance will begin the trial of journalist Sedef Kabaş on June 22, 2023.
Kabaş stated: “The majority of the tweets I post are based on facts. They are not about imagined things. They are my comments and criticisms about events that are already known by the public. I am a journalist of 30 years. Criticism and holding those in power are the fundamental principles of journalistic duty…”
“Therefore these tweets should be evaluated in the context of journalistic activity. I exercised my freedom of expression and my freedom as a journalist by posting these tweets. None of these tweets contain insults, curses which would harm the persons of others. Quite the contrary, these investigations launched against me, the demands for my acquittals to be overturned show that the judiciary is utilized to put pressure on me, to silence and to hurt me.”
The Coalition For Women In Journalism stands in solidarity with Sedef Kabaş. These shameless trials further criminal activity from those in power without precautions. We demand that these bogus charges aimed at discrediting Kabaş's work as a journalist are immediately dropped by the Turkish court. Journalism is not a crime.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.