A Turkish court heart an appeal in the case of Wall Street Journal reporter Ayla Albayrak, who was sentenced to 25 months in prison last year for an article she wrote about violence in the country.
Thomas Grove of The Journal wrote, “The hearing at the regional court in Gaziantep is the first since Ms. Albayrak was sentenced to 25 months in prison in October. Ms. Albayrak, who was not required to be present at the hearing, is currently not in Turkey.
“‘I will never give up pursuing the legal process until the very end, as I have not done anything illegal,” Ms. Albayrak said before the hearing. “Quite the opposite. I’m proud of the price of reporting that prompted this.”
“The Wall Street Journal has praised Ms. Albayrak’s work and offered a full-throated defense of the article it published, maintaining that it stood up to the newspaper’s most rigorous newspaper standards.
“It remains intolerable that this conviction looms over a professional and respected journalist who provided independent, objective reporting on Turkey. We remain undeterred in our support for Ayla and for press freedom as we look to the appellate court to overturn this injustice,” said Matt Murray, editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal.”
Read more here.
