Journalist Barış Pehlivan reimprisoned

ANKARA

Journalist Barış Pehlivan has been reimprisoned following a new legal case tied to a 2020 news coverage, for which he had previously been sentenced and subsequently released after serving six months in detention.

Pehlivan, a columnist for daily Cumhuriyet, was initially arrested and convicted to serve a sentence of three years and nine months in prison. The conviction stemmed from an article in which he revealed the identity of a deceased member of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT), who had been involved in operations in Libya.

The journalist's initial imprisonment lasted six months before he was granted release on probation on Sept. 9, 2020, provided that he is not subject to another court case.

However, a fresh legal challenge emerged on March 30 when new charges were levied against Pehlivan in relation to another article of his. Consequently, he was summoned to prison on May 17. After spending a brief period in an open prison, Pehlivan was released once again due to COVID related leave policies.

With his application for probation remaining unanswered and the regulations barring convicts on COVID leave from re-entry to prison not applied to him, Pehlivan returned to the Marmara Prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence.