An Istanbul court on Wednesday handed down a prison sentence of four years and two months to Fatih Altaylı, a controversial journalist accused of issuing a threat to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Altaylı was arrested in June following a video he released on his YouTube channel. In the video, Altaylı discussed the possibility of another term for Erdoğan but warned that he may end up like Ottoman sultans. “There are many sultans who were strangled or assassinated,” Altaylı said in the video.
The 63-year-old Altaylı is no stranger to controversy and is known for his pointed remarks targeting Erdoğan in the past. He was also among journalists who launched a witch hunt against Muslims in the late nineties, especially before and after the 1997 coup, openly supporting the ban on headscarf-wearing students. At Wednesday’s hearing, Altaylı denied the charges. The court initially ruled for one year in prison for Altaylı, but later upgraded it to five years before commuting it again to four years and two months. Judges deemed Altaylı as a flight risk and ordered his further incarceration.
