Vice news correspondent Jacop Philip John Gingell Hanrahan, cameraman Philipi John Pendlebury, their translator Mohamed Ismael Rasool and their driver Abdurrahman Direkci were detained on 28 August 2015 when they came to Diyarbakır to shoot a documentary about the life under curfew in Cizre, Silopi, Nusaybin and Sur.

They face up to 67 years of imprisonment for “knowingly and willingly aiding an armed terrorist organization as a non-member” and “propagandising for a terrorist organisation” at the 8th High Criminal Court of Diyarbakır. In the trial held on February 27, 2017, the court lifted Rasools’s and Direkci’s bans on leaving the country and adjourned the hearing to July 2017.

At the hearing of the case held on December 24, 2020, it was seen that the letter of instruction sent to the Ministry of Justice, requesting that the testimonies of the defendants living in England be taken through rogatory, had not yet been replied. The court has ruled that the reply shall be awaited. The next hearing will be held on May 20, 2021 (December 24).

At the hearing held on May 20, 2021, the court board adjourned the trial to await the reply to the request for letters rogatory. The next hearing will be held on November 23 (May 20).

At the hearing held on November 23, 2021, the court board ruled that the answer to the Justice Ministry’s written correspondence to the United Kingdom (UK) to take the journalists’ defense statements via letters rogatory should be awaited. The next hearing will be held on February 24, 2022 (November 23).

At the hearing on February 24, 2022, the lawyers said that the testimonies of the English defendants were taken by the English judicial authorities on January 5. They requested that the court await the testimonies. The court ruled that the delivery of the testimonies taken by letters rogatory should be awaited. The next hearing will be held on May 26 (February 24).

At the 17th hearing of the case on November 14, the court decided to send the file to the prosecutor’s office for the preparation of the final opinion. The next hearing is scheduled for February 21 (14 November).

The 20th hearing of the case was held on 26 June, 2024 at the Diyarbakır 8th High Criminal Court (June 26th). The Ankara High Criminal Court on Duty involuntarily returned the court’s order that the translation of the journalists’ testimonies from English to Turkish be done by a new expert, on the grounds that it was incomplete, stating that the expert should be determined by the Diyarbakır 8th High Criminal Cour. The hearing was adjourned until 25 November (June 26th).