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Turkish court jails opposition journalist

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A court in Turkey on Thursday ordered the arrest of a journalist from an opposition television channel accused of broadcasting a secretly recorded interview with an expert witness, the media outlet said.

Halk TV said its editor-in-chief, Suat Toktaş, had been jailed because he made the decision to broadcast an interview about an investigation into İstanbul’s opposition mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu.

“I am facing ridiculous accusations,” Toktaş told the court, according to the television outlet.

“What we have done is true journalism.”

Halk TV is close to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Four other journalists including reporter Barış Pehlivan, who conducted the interview with an expert witness, were released.

Authorities claimed that the phone interview was recorded and broadcast without consent.

İmamoğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival, is due to appear before the public prosecutor on Friday over the interview. He is already facing several other legal proceedings.

İmamoğlu had criticized the court expert, saying he had been appointed in investigations launched against CHP-held municipalities and was biased.

That claim prompted authorities to summon İmamoğlu before prosecutors who accused him of “attempting to influence the judiciary.”

© Agence France-Presse

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