Journalist İsmail Arı arrested over complaint by Ebubekir Şahin

Journalist İsmail Arı was detained in Ankara on the complaint of former RTÜK Chairman Ebubekir Şahin. Arı faced charges of "insulting a public official because of his duty" and "disseminating misleading information to the public." He was then arrested on 21 October.

From detention to arrest

Police phoned Arı and invited him to give a statement. He went to the Security Branch Directorate of the Ankara Police Department at the stated time, where he was served with a detention order. After spending the night in police custody, Arı was sent to the courthouse on the morning of 21 October.

Following his statement to the prosecutor, Arı was referred to a criminal judgeship of peace, which ordered his arrest based solely on the charge of "publicly spreading misleading information." Which report or post the complaint was based on has not been disclosed.

After the arrest decision, Arı made the following statement through his lawyers:

The judge didn't even listen, he interrupted the lawyers. They are sending me to prison once again for a crime that doesn't even carry time served.

İsmail Arı

Previous detention

Arı was also arrested in March 2026 on charges of "publicly spreading misleading information" and "violation of confidentiality," and spent about 75 days in Sincan Prison. He was released without judicial control conditions at his first hearing on 5 June. Ebubekir Şahin served as RTÜK Chairman for a long period and currently serves as CEO of Türk Telekom.

As context, journalists' professional organizations had announced protests under the slogan "No to censorship, freedom for news" in 10 provinces on Saturday, 24 October, against detentions, arrests and access bans targeting journalists.