On February 16, 2018, the 11th High Criminal Court of Adana acquitted Journalist Rıfat Söylemez in the case in which he was accused of  “membership in a terrorist organisation [FETÖ]” for 15 years of imprisonment. Upon the objection of the prosecutor against the acquittal, the Regional Court of  Justice of Adana decided to give him 2 years and 1-month of imprisonment for “knowingly and willingly aiding an armed terrorist organization as a non-member” on October 24, 2018.

Upon the prosecutor’s appeal against the acquittal of Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS) Adana Branch Chair Salim Büyükkaya, Adana Medya newspaper’s owner Taner Talaş, Ekspres newspaper’s owner Hakan Bülent Yardımcı, Abdurrahim Haklıkul and Osman Palamut, who stood trial without being arrested, they were sentenced to 2 years, 1 month in prison on charge of “aiding an armed terrorist organization knowingly and willingly as a non-member”. The Adana Regional Court of Justice upheld the sentences of arrested journalist Aytekin Gezici, who was sentenced to 9 years in prison, Yüksel Evsen and Mustafa Naim Yalçınel, against who there were warrants, and Abdullah Özyurt, who was sentenced to 7 years, 6 months in prison. 

With his prison sentence upheld by the Court of Cassation, Adana Haber newspaper’s former grant holder Rifat Söylemez was arrested and sent to prison in Adana on August 18, 2021 (August 18).