Former daily Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dündar has been shortlisted for the European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2016.
Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzemilev, Yazidi survivors and public advocates Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Bashar, and Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti were also among this year’s nominees for the prize.
Dündar and Cumhuriyet Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül faced trial for “leaking state secrets” due to stories they published about Turkish intelligence trucks allegedly bound for Syria with hidden weapons in early 2014. They were arrested on Nov. 26, 2015 and released on Feb. 26 following a Constitutional Court decision.
An Istanbul court later sentenced Dündar and Gül to five years in prison for “leaking state secrets” on May 6.
Earlier on the same day, Dündar escaped unharmed from an armed attack directed at him in front of the ...
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