The İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court, in its verdict dated January 16, 2018, has sentenced Ayşe Düzkan, Ragıp Duran, columnists of the newspaper Mehmet Ali Çelebi and Hüseyin Bektaş to 18 months of imprisonment and co-Editor-in-Chief Hüseyin Aykol to 3 years and 9 months imprisonment on the charge of “propagandizing for a terrorist organization” as per the Article no. 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law as they have participated in the Editors-in-Chief on Watch campaign that was launched in solidarity with the Özgür Gündem newspaper, which was closed as per the Statutory Decree no. 675.
The prison sentences, which were previously given to journalists Ayşe Düzkan, Ragıp Duran, Mehmet Ali Çelebi, Hüseyin Bektaş and Hüseyin Aykol by the İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court, have been upheld by the 3rd Penal Chamber of the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice on November 29, 2018.