Journos released on same day they arrested

ISTANBUL

Three Turkish journalists who were sent to an Istanbul prison on Feb. 15 after an appeals court upheld their sentences were released on the same day, their lawyers have confirmed.

Barış Pehlivan, Murat Ağırel and Hülya Kılınç were convicted over a report on the funeral of a member of the Turkish intelligence service who was killed in Libya.

The trio was arrested on Feb. 15 after the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice upheld the prison sentences given for “disclosure by any means of the identities, positions, duties and activities of National Intelligence Organization (MİT) members and their families,” as they published the report.

Just hours after the journalists were sent to prison, lawyer Hüseyin Ersöz announced late on Feb. 15 the release of Pehlivan and Ağırel on Twitter.

Ersöz stated that the two journalists who were transferred from a high-security prison to an open prison were released from there as part of the COVID-19 measures.

Kılınç, who was arrested in the Aegean province of Manisa, was also released after the completion of the procedures.

The trio will serve the remainder of their sentences in open prison again, following the end of COVID-19 measures.