News
Latest News
news bulletin
Breaking Headlines
Israel-Gaza War Updates
Variety and Tech
Sports News
Middle East News
World News
Lebanon News
Press Highlights
Lebanon Economy
News Bulletin Reports
Other News
Breaking Headlines
Israel-Gaza War Updates
Variety and Tech
Sports News
Middle East News
World News
Lebanon News
Press Highlights
Lebanon Economy
News Bulletin Reports
Beirut
31
o
Mount Lebanon
33
o
Metn
31
o
Keserwan
31
o
North
31
o
South
31
o
Bekaa
26
o
Live
Video
Audio
Schedule
shows
العربية
watching now
Morning Talk
SUBSCRIBE
Home
Notification
Live
Video
Audio
shows
Beirut
31
o
Mount Lebanon
33
o
Metn
31
o
Keserwan
31
o
North
31
o
South
31
o
Bekaa
26
o
News
Programs
The News
Breaking Headlines
Israel-Gaza War Updates
Variety and Tech
Sports News
Middle East News
World News
Lebanon News
Press Highlights
Lebanon Economy
News Bulletin Reports
Programs
Documentaries
Lebanon’s Centennial
News Bulletin
The Untold History
Talk Show
Series
Sports
Variety
Other
Comedy
Oldies
Breaking News
Latest News
Highlighted News
Most Read
Videos
العربية
Watch the latest programs and the latest developments on your favorite screen
Shows
Join millions of followers
Who We Are
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Careers
Channel frequencies
Privacy Policy
Terms and Conditions
Protests as espionage trial of prominent Turkish journalists resumes
Breaking Headlines
2016-04-01 | 06:55
High views
Share
Share
4
min
Protests as espionage trial of prominent Turkish journalists resumes
Hundreds of people including opposition politicians protested outside the trial of two prominent Turkish journalists facing life in prison on espionage charges on Friday, hours after President Tayyip Erdogan denied curbing press freedoms.
Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul are accused of trying to topple the government with the publication last May of a video purporting to show Turkey's state intelligence agency helping to ferry weapons into Syria by truck in 2014.
Their case has brought international condemnation and raised concerns about freedom of expression in Turkey. At their first hearing a week ago, the court took the case behind closed doors and accepted Erdogan as a complainant in what critics said was a move that undermined judicial independence.
"During the legal process, the president personally intervened, both as a complainant and through his repeated public statements. Turkey's judicial system is not strong enough to shrug off the dominance of this president," Muharrem Ozay, a lawyer for the two journalists, told Reuters.
Erdogan has cast the newspaper's coverage as part of an attempt to undermine Turkey's global standing and has vowed that Dundar will "pay a heavy price".
He has acknowledged that the trucks, which were stopped by gendarmerie and police officers en route to the Syrian border, belonged to the MIT intelligence agency and said they were carrying aid to Turkmens in Syria. Turkmen fighters are battling both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Islamic State.
Ali Seker, one of more than a dozen opposition members of parliament outside the court room, said he and his colleagues were trying to exercise their legal right to observe the case and were concerned that Gul and Dundar might be re-arrested.
The court on Friday rejected the opposition applications, lawyers said. Supporters chanted "You cannot silence the free press" and "Shoulder to shoulder against fascism".
The two journalists spent 92 days in jail, almost half of it in solitary confinement, before the constitutional court ruled last month that pre-trial detention was unfounded because the charges stemmed from their journalism and they were released.
Erdogan said he did not respect that ruling.
INTERNATIONAL CONCERN
The trial comes as Turkey tries to deflect criticism from the European Union, United States and rights groups that say it is bridling a once-vibrant press.
There were ugly scenes in Washington on Thursday, where Erdogan is on a visit, as his bodyguards tried to stop protesters chanting and waving banners outside the Brookings Institution think-tank where he was speaking.
"Turkey's leader and his security team are guests in the United States," said Thomas Burr, president of the National Press Club. "They have no right to lay their hands on reporters or protesters or anyone else for that matter ... Erdogan doesn't get to export such abuse."
In his speech at Brookings, Erdogan warned he would continue to sue critics who insult him in Turkey, while in an interview with CNN, he denied being "at war" with the press.
"Espionage, do you think it is a freedom of expression or a freedom of press?" he told the broadcaster.
Ahead of the trial, Dundar told Reuters he would use the hearings to refocus attention on the story that landed him in the dock, describing himself as a witness not a defendant.
Erdogan has said prosecutors had no authority to order the MIT trucks be searched and that they were part of what he calls a "parallel state" run by his ally-turned-foe Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Islamic cleric who the president says is bent on discrediting him and the Turkish government.
The prosecutors have denied those allegations, while Gulen has denied plotting against the government.
REUTERS
Breaking Headlines
Turkey
Journalist
Next
Grand Mufti Derian travels to Saudi Arabia for Hajj
Recommended For You
d-none hideMe
0
Middle East News
02:10
Over 430 settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque on third day of Passover holiday: Al Jazeera reports
Middle East News
02:10
Over 430 settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque on third day of Passover holiday: Al Jazeera reports
0
Lebanon News
2024-04-23
Hezbollah announces launching 'dozens of rockets' at Israel in response to civilian deaths
Lebanon News
2024-04-23
Hezbollah announces launching 'dozens of rockets' at Israel in response to civilian deaths
0
Lebanon News
2024-04-21
Breaking: Israeli airstrike hits Naqoura, reports NNA
Lebanon News
2024-04-21
Breaking: Israeli airstrike hits Naqoura, reports NNA
0
Lebanon News
2024-04-21
Shelling from Lebanon hits Western Galilee: Israeli Channel 12 reports
Lebanon News
2024-04-21
Shelling from Lebanon hits Western Galilee: Israeli Channel 12 reports
Subscribe to our VOD
SUBSCRIBE
Our visitors readings
d-none hideMe
0
Lebanon News
2023-10-10
Hezbollah Responds to Israeli Attacks with Precision Strike on Military Vehicle
Lebanon News
2023-10-10
Hezbollah Responds to Israeli Attacks with Precision Strike on Military Vehicle
0
World News
00:43
Pro-Palestinian protests on US campus meet forceful response
World News
00:43
Pro-Palestinian protests on US campus meet forceful response
0
World News
2023-08-17
Washington sanctions entities linked to arms deals between Russia and North Korea
World News
2023-08-17
Washington sanctions entities linked to arms deals between Russia and North Korea
0
Middle East News
09:53
Paris deems death sentence against Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi 'unacceptable'
Middle East News
09:53
Paris deems death sentence against Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi 'unacceptable'
Videos
d-none hideMe
0
Lebanon News
2023-12-11
Breaking: Israel launches raid north of Litani on Monday (Video)
Lebanon News
2023-12-11
Breaking: Israel launches raid north of Litani on Monday (Video)
0
Lebanon News
2023-11-02
Exclusive to LBCI: U.S. State Department's Wooster Stresses Lebanon Must Avoid War, Sees Renewed Push for Two-State Solution
Lebanon News
2023-11-02
Exclusive to LBCI: U.S. State Department's Wooster Stresses Lebanon Must Avoid War, Sees Renewed Push for Two-State Solution
0
Lebanon News
2023-10-18
Protests Erupt near US Embassy in Awkar Against Israeli Attacks on Al-Maamadani Hospital in Gaza
Lebanon News
2023-10-18
Protests Erupt near US Embassy in Awkar Against Israeli Attacks on Al-Maamadani Hospital in Gaza
0
Lebanon News
2023-10-05
ATFL's Ambassador Edward Gabriel on Navigating Through Economic, Political, and Refugee Crises
Lebanon News
2023-10-05
ATFL's Ambassador Edward Gabriel on Navigating Through Economic, Political, and Refugee Crises
0
Sports News
2023-08-31
Amir Saoud Powers Lebanon to Victory Over Cote d'Ivoire: A Deep Dive Into The Numbers
Sports News
2023-08-31
Amir Saoud Powers Lebanon to Victory Over Cote d'Ivoire: A Deep Dive Into The Numbers
0
Sports News
2023-08-29
France Edges Past Lebanon in a Nail-Biter at FIBA World Cup 2023: A Statistical Deep Dive
Sports News
2023-08-29
France Edges Past Lebanon in a Nail-Biter at FIBA World Cup 2023: A Statistical Deep Dive
0
Lebanon News
2019-02-28
Pierre el-Daher, the man who defeated the Lebanese Forces
Lebanon News
2019-02-28
Pierre el-Daher, the man who defeated the Lebanese Forces
Most read
d-none hideMe
24 hours
7 days
Month
1
Lebanon News
02:55
Ethiopian Airlines plane lands in Beirut with 'Tel Aviv' marking: Civil Aviation Directorate
Lebanon News
02:55
Ethiopian Airlines plane lands in Beirut with 'Tel Aviv' marking: Civil Aviation Directorate
2
Lebanon News
05:17
Breaking: Lebanese Parliament approves one-year postponement for municipal and mukhtars elections
Lebanon News
05:17
Breaking: Lebanese Parliament approves one-year postponement for municipal and mukhtars elections
3
Lebanon News
03:12
Israeli drone strikes Douris plain in Baalbek: Driver injured
Lebanon News
03:12
Israeli drone strikes Douris plain in Baalbek: Driver injured
4
Lebanon News
07:00
Hezbollah refutes Israel's claim of killing half of its leaders in southern Lebanon
Lebanon News
07:00
Hezbollah refutes Israel's claim of killing half of its leaders in southern Lebanon
5
Lebanon News
02:34
Israeli strike hits Iaat plain in Baalbek: Thursday update
Lebanon News
02:34
Israeli strike hits Iaat plain in Baalbek: Thursday update
6
Lebanon News
11:01
Mikati discusses preparations for French Foreign Minister's visit with Magro, reviews monetary situation with Mansouri
Lebanon News
11:01
Mikati discusses preparations for French Foreign Minister's visit with Magro, reviews monetary situation with Mansouri
7
Middle East News
02:10
Over 430 settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque on third day of Passover holiday: Al Jazeera reports
Middle East News
02:10
Over 430 settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque on third day of Passover holiday: Al Jazeera reports
8
Lebanon News
00:31
Hezbollah's ambush: Targeting an armored convoy in Kfarchouba Hills
Lebanon News
00:31
Hezbollah's ambush: Targeting an armored convoy in Kfarchouba Hills
Download now the LBCI mobile app
To see the latest news, the latest daily programs in Lebanon and the world
Google Play
App Store
We use
cookies
We use
cookies
to make
your experience on this
website better.
Accept
Learn More