Turkey: Court Forbids Corruption-Busting Journalist From Writing

A journalist writes an article alleging financial irregularities at a Turkish municipality. Naturally, an investigation into the matter is launched -- in this case against the journalist, who ends up being fined by a court and prohibited from practicing her trade for a year. From Bianet's report on this strange and disturbing story:

Journalist Havva Karakaya from the local Kırşehir Posta newspaper was treated like a civil servant by the Kırşehir 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. As reported on Thursday (28 July), the court decreed to prohibit Karakaya from performing his profession as a journalist for 375 days on the grounds of a news item he wrote.
In an interview with bianet, Karakaya said that he was going to lodge an appeal with the Court of Appeals 4th Chamber. He added that the lawyers he had consulted were also surprised about the decision.
Judge Kamuran Haydar presided over the final hearing. The court handed down a judicial fine corresponding to 300 days or ten months imprisonment respectively. The sentence stemmed from an article written by Karakaya on irregularities at the Kırşehir Municipality. Judge Haydar regarded the profession of journalism as a "professional organization comparable to a public institution" and prohibited Karakaya from performing his profession as a journalist for more than a year.
Karakaya added that he also received a monetary fine of TL 7,200 (€ 3,500). He told bianet that he was not going to step back from what he wrote and expressed his hope for the Court of Appeals' reversal.

Full story here. And a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists on the press faced by parts of the Turkish media can be found here.