Journalist and the author of several books Ahmet Şık has been formally arrested on charges of engaging in terrorist propaganda for a series of social media postings and articles.
Earlier in the day, Şık had been referred to İstanbul Çağlayan courthouse following his proceedings at the police headquarters.
According to Hürriyet, the prosecutors office had demanded the arrest of Şık claiming that he did not give direct and detailed answers during his interrogation while pointing to the evidence that he made terror propaganda, including the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), which was blamed on the July 15 failed coup attempt.
The three groups Ahmet Şık is claimed to make propoganda for have different ideologies. The arrest is severely criticized due to the inconsistency of claims. The organization called FETÖ refers to Erdoğan administration's former ally U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.
The court board later ordered the arrest of Şık on the same charges.
İstanbul prosecutor Fahrettin Kerim Yerli had taken Şık's testimony but the journalist had refused to answer Yerli’s questions, his lawyer said.
“You cannot interrogate journalism in this way. The same thing is happening as was happening five years ago,” Şık said, referring to previous bogus investigations led by prosecutors allied to U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, widely believed to have been masterminded the failed coup attempt.
Şık previously was in jail between 2011 and 2012.
In 2011 he was jailed for a year over a book, as part of a series of court cases that led to the imprisonment of hundreds of soldiers and journalists who were targeted by the Erdoğan-Gülen alliance.
