Turkey journalists freed from prison after court ruling

Two Turkish journalists charged with revealing state secrets have been freed from prison. Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, from the newspaper Cumhuriyet, were detained in November over a report alleging that the Turkish government tried to ship arms to Islamists in Syria.

Erdem Gul (left) and Can Dundar were freed early on Friday

But Turkey's constitutional court has challenged the charges, saying they violated freedom of the press. They were released early on Friday after three months in jail. Large crowds chanting support met them outside prison on their release.


Mr Dundar, the paper's editor-in-chief, and Mr Gul, its Ankara bureau chief, spent 92 days in prison and had been due to go on trial on 25 March. "This is a trial of press freedom," Mr Dundar said. "We got out but more than 30 colleagues are still in prison. I hope that this ruling will pave way for their freedom as well."

Pointing to the prison, he said he would continue to fight for press freedom "until this concentration camp that you see behind me becomes a museum".