The former Turkey reporter of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Ayla Albayrak was sentenced to 2 years and 1 month in prison on October 10, 2017 for “propagandizing for the terrorist organisation [PKK]” in an article entitled “Urban Warfare Escalates in Turkey’s Kurdish Majority Southeast” that she wrote for the newspaper published in WSJ on August 19, 2015.
The article was also a video footage that was captured in Silopi in Turkey’s southeastern province of Şırnak and showed the conflict between the security forces and the PKK. The video also featured interviews with mayors and the inhabitants of Silopi. Albayrak was summoned to the security directorate to depose in November 2015. The lawsuit had been filed against the journalist in April 2016.
The Gaziantep Court of Appeal has overturned the 25-month prison sentence previously given to Albayrak. Announcing its verdict, the Gaziantep Court of Appeal has cited statute of limitations and dismissed the case on procedural grounds. The court did not rule on the substance of the charges.