- Turkey jails a woman for seven months over a street interview
- The interview related to questionable government decisions
Turkey jails a woman for seven months over a street interview
A Turkish court sentences a woman to more than seven months in prison for giving an interview in the street criticizing the country's blockade of Instagram.
A court in the Aegean city of Izmir found Dilruba Kayserilioglu guilty of "insulting the public" after she expressed her views on a YouTube channel last month.
Her sentence has been suspended, and she will not go to prison immediately. Kayserilioglu was acquitted of incitement charges. In her defense, the defendant invoked freedom of speech.
The interview related to questionable government decisions
The 33-year-old woman spoke to journalists on the street in August, sharply criticizing the government's temporary blocking of Instagram, among other things.
She also called supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "idiots" who, she said, put their freedom in the hands of the President and "worship him". She was detained shortly afterward but later released on parole.
Instagram was blocked in Turkey for more than a week at the beginning of August. The Erdogan government mainly controls traditional media in Turkey.
Social media and YouTube channels, including similar street interviews, are popular in Turkey. The head of the broadcasting authority, RTÜK recently announced plans to regulate the broadcasting of street interviews on YouTube.
Based on ELTA reports
