Trial Continues For Staff Of Cumhuriyet Newspaper

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - SEPTEMBER 11: A man holds a sign showing the faces of five of the journalists on trial outside the entrance to the Silivri Courthouse during the ongoing trial of journalists from the Cumhuriyet Newspaper on September 11, 2017 in Istanbul, Turkey. Seventeen journalists and managers of the Cumhuriyet Newspaper are facing trial on charges of aiding a terrorist organization and Turkish prosecutors are seeking up to 43 years in jail for staff from the paper, including some of Turkey's best-known journalists. Cumhuriyet is Turkey's oldest up-market daily newspaper, established in 1924 it is one of the few remaining opposition newspapers. Critical of President Erdogan and Turkey's ongoing slide into authoritarianism, police raided the newspaper in October 2016, after the July 15 failed coup attempt, arresting nearly half of the newspaper's staff including columnists, cartoonists, reporters, and executives on charges of terrorism and treason. On July 24, 2017 a mass hearing was held and saw seven staff members freed, however five remain in custody in one of Turkey's biggest press freedom cases. Since the 2016 failed coup attempt Turkey has become one of the world's largest jailers of journalists, with 800 journalists having their passports and press credentials confiscated, 178 jailed and 173 media outlets shut down according to opposition statistics. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)