Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer Yasin Akgul, freelance press photographer Bulent Kiliç, Now Haber TV reporter Ali Onur Tosun and freelance reporter Zeynep Kuray were just doing their job as journalists when they were arrested on 24 March while covering massive demonstrations in the Istanbul district of Saraçhane in protest against Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu’s arrest.

Transferred to prison on a prosecutor’s orders the day after their arrest, they are unjustly accused of violating Law 2911 on public demonstrations and gatherings and are facing the possibility of three-year jail sentences. Their trial is scheduled to begin on 24 October before the 62nd chamber of the Istanbul criminal court.

“There can be no doubt that these journalists were targeted for exposing police brutality against young protesters and ended up being imprisoned as a result of a police conspiracy. The photographers were filmed by the police in a way that made them appear to be protesters. We urge the Turkish authorities to put an end to this judicial charade and arbitrary persecution. The right to information must be untouchable.”

Nisa Sude Demirel, a reporter for the daily Evrensel (“Universal”) who covered the protests in Saraçhane Square and student protests, is also facing a possible jail sentence on an arbitrary charge of being a protester. Arrested  at her Istanbul home in the early hours of 28 March, she appeared before the 14th chamber of the Istanbul Criminal Court on 10 October. At this hearing, which RSF observed, the court lifted the judicial supervision order, under which she had to sign a register at a police station twice a week, but extended her ban on leaving the country. Her trial is scheduled to continue on 15 May.

A sixth journalist,  Engin Deniz Ipek, a reporter for the daily Cumhuriyet (“Republic”), is facing the same trumped-up charges. After the court lifted his judicial supervision order at a hearing on 1 October, his trial is scheduled to resume on 25 February.

Despite clear evidence that these six journalists were simply doing their job, they are being subjected to criminal prosecution in cases fabricated by the Istanbul police. The justice system is constantly misused in this way. Twenty journalists have been imprisoned in Türkiye since the start of the year, and three others have been placed under house arrest. Three journalists are currently in prison because of their work.