25–26 March 2025
Following the detention and arrest of İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, mass protests erupted across the city. AFP correspondent Yasin Akgül was arrested in a police raid on his home on 25 March while covering the demonstrations.
On 26 March, Akgül was charged with “violating the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations” and placed under arrest, but he was released the next day. Journalist organisations declared that these mass arrests were a violation of press freedom.
20 May 2025
In the case scheduled to be heard at the Istanbul 62nd Criminal Court of First Instance, the files of seven journalists on trial for covering the protests in Saraçhane following the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu were separated. Photojournalists Kurtuluş Arı, Gökhan Kam, Bülent Kılıç, AFP photojournalist Yasin Akgül, Now TV reporter Ali Onur Tosun, and journalists Zeynep Kuray and Hayri Tunç will be retried on 24 October on charges of “participating in an unlawful assembly and demonstration without arms and failing to disperse despite warning,” facing up to three years in prison.
