Turkey court orders release of AFP journalist and 2 others

A Turkish court on Thursday ordered the release of three journalists, including AFP photographer Yasin Akgul, held after covering the country's worst unrest in over a decade, his lawyer and an NGO said.

Akgul, 35, was one of 11 journalists detained after days of covering mass protests that erupted on March 19 when Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu -- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival -- was arrested.

Eight were detained in Istanbul, and three others in the western coastal city of Izmir.

Seven of them were remanded in custody on Tuesday on charges of "taking part in illegal rallies and marches and failing to disperse despite warnings", court documents showed.

The Istanbul journalists had been detained in pre-dawn raids on their homes on Monday then taken to Istanbul's main Caglayan courthouse a day later where prosecutors had initially ordered their release under judicial control.

Shortly afterwards, they suddenly revised their request, asking the court to formally arrest them, which it did, Akgul's lawyer said.

Legal observers described it as an "unprecedented" U-turn.

The court also ordered the release of two more journalists on Thursday, the MLSA rights group said.

Akgul was expected to be freed by afternoon after the procedures are completed, his lawyer said.

"Yasin Akgul's release is welcome and constitutes redress for a monumental injustice," Erol Onderoglu of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) told AFP.

"As RSF, we demand the release of all other journalists who have been deprived of their freedom due to grossly unjust treatment," he said, specifically pointing to "all journalists arrested in Istanbul and Izmir".

AFP chief executive and chairman Fabrice Fries had slammed imprisonment as "unacceptable".

Akgul, he stressed, was "not part of the protest" but only covering it as a journalist, and should be swiftly released.

Turkey ranks 158 out of 180 countries listed in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

The journalists' initial arrest sparked international condemnation including from the United Nations.

The court decision was slammed as "scandalous" by RSF, with the Turkish Photojournalists Union denouncing it as "unlawful, unconscionable and unacceptable".