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Jailed Kurdish journalist, artist Zehra Dogan released from prison

Court had convicted the woman for “terrorist propaganda” over painting critical of Nisêbîn destruction by Turkish army

 
Dogan after being released, in an imatge she has posted on her Twitter account.
Dogan after being released, in an imatge she has posted on her Twitter account. Author: Zehra Dogan @ Twitter
Kurdish journalist and artist Zehra Dogan has been released from prison 24 February after more than two years of deprivation of liberty. Dogan was sentenced in March 2017 for having painted the destruction of the city of Nisêbîn by the Turkish armed forces, and also for having written an article in 2015. According to the court that sentenced her, the painting amounted to “terrorist propaganda,” as did a quotation of the words of a 10-year-old girl that the journalist had included in the article.

In these two images, both the photo in which Dogan was inspired and her painting can be seen.





“They gave me a prison penalty for taking the photo of destroyed houses and putting Turkish flags on them. But it wasn’t me who did it, it was them. I just painted it”, Dogan said hearing the verdict.

Dogan was the editor of feminist news agency JINHA, which the Turkish authorities shut down in 2016 amid a repressive wave against the Kurdish movement and the media after that year’ coup.

Several international organizations, including the PEN Club and Amnesty, repeatedly demanded freedom for Dogan and for the other journalists jailed in Turkey.

Dogan has been nominated to the Index on Censorship’s 2019 Freedom of Expression Award in its artistic category.