RSF - Reporters sans frontières
RSF - Reporters sans frontières
05/12/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/13/2026 11:06
Türkiye: RSF calls for the acquittal of journalist Nisa Sude Demirel and all the journalists punished for covering the March 2025 protests
The journalists arrested and detained for covering the massive protests in March 2025 are being acquitted as their trials come to a close. Now, Nisa Sude Demirel, from the daily Evrensel, is scheduled to appear in court on 14 May. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for her acquittal.
On Thursday, 14 May, journalist Nisa Sude Demirel is scheduled to appear before the 14th Chamber of the Istanbul Criminal Court. Unjustly accused of "participation in an unauthorised demonstration," she faces up to three years in prison. She was arrested while covering university boycotts in Istanbul protesting the arrest of the city's mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, President Erdogan's main opponent, and spent two days in custody before being released on 28 March.
Nisa Sude Demirel is one of dozens of journalists who were arrested and prosecuted while covering the mass protests in front of Istanbul City Hall on Saraçhane Square in March 2025. At least five of them were acquitted in 2025.
"It is essential that all of these journalists, who were simply doing their jobs by covering mass protests, be acquitted. These waves of arrests, detentions and legal proceedings over the course of several months reveal just how clearly these actions were intended to curb media coverage of police brutality and prevent the country's population from being well-informed. The narrative fabricated by the authorities must now urgently come to an end and all the unjustly targeted journalists must be acquitted."
Erol Onderoglu
RSF Representative in Türkiye
Kiliç, Now Haber reporter Ali Onur Tosun, and freelance journalist Zeynep Kuray were acquitted on 27 November 2025, by the 62nd Chamber of the Istanbul Criminal Court; the court stated that journalists were exercising their "constitutional right." They had been arrested on 24 March 2025 and jailed the following day. They were released on 27 March following pressure from press freedom advocates, including RSF.
On 4 March 2026, Engin Deniz Ipek, a reporter for the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet (Republic), was acquitted by the 64th Chamber of the Istanbul Criminal Court. The journalist had simply been the March 2025 protests and the court ruled that for the case's 35 defendants, "the elements of the crime were not present." Some photojournalists had been filmed by the police in a way that made them appear to be protesters.
Türkiye ranks 163rd out of 180 countries and territories in the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index. Three journalists - Alican Uludag, Merdan Yanardag, and Ismail Ari - are currently imprisoned in the country due to their work.
Published on 12.05.2026
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