7 January 2025
The Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance convicted journalist Furkan Karabay under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (publicly insulting the judiciary) and sentenced him to five months in prison. The case stemmed from Karabay’s reporting on lawyer Buket Nurşah Tekışık’s photo taken in the office of a terrorism prosecutor, which she shared with the caption, “I never lose. I either win or learn.”
In his defense before the verdict, Karabay argued that it was not journalists who insult the judiciary, but prosecutors “fabricating terrorism cases and ruining lives” and lawyers “posing for photos in prosecutors’ offices and sharing them on social media for personal gain.”