A Turkish court jailed journalist Ali Tarakcı pending trial Saturday over an X post predicting a cabinet minister’s resignation. Police had detained him earlier in the day, and his account was blocked for users in Turkey, the DHA news agency reported.

Ankara’s 8th Criminal Court of Peace ordered Tarakcı jailed on suspicion of publicly spreading misleading information under Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code.

On September 23, Tarakcı wrote on X that “a very important minister will resign on Friday.” He did not name the minister. Friday, September 25, passed without the resignation he predicted.

His post circulated amid speculation that Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek might resign as Turkey grappled with an investment fund crisis. Şimşek rejected rumors about his own resignation on Thursday, calling them “baseless.” Tarakcı later told prosecutors that he had not meant any particular minister.

The crisis began when some investment funds holding shares that were difficult to sell could not meet requests from investors seeking their money back. Turkey’s Capital Markets Board ordered the liquidation of 131 funds run by seven asset managers. The funds had about $18 billion in reported assets and 455,758 individual investors.

The press crimes unit of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into Tarakcı’s post. Prosecutors ordered him detained and instructed police to search his home and seize digital devices for examination, according to the DHA.

Tarakcı posted shortly after midnight Saturday that he was being detained. Prosecutors cited Article 217/A in the order sent to police in İstanbul, where he was taken into custody.

At prosecutors’ request, Ankara’s 7th Criminal Court of Peace also ordered access to Tarakcı’s entire X account blocked. X made the account unavailable in Turkey.

Article 217/A, enacted in 2022 and often called Turkey’s disinformation law, carries a prison sentence of one to three years upon conviction. It covers false information spread with the aim of causing public fear, panic or concern. The Committee to Protect Journalists has criticized its use against reporters.

The account block comes amid a wider series of restrictions on X in Turkey. On Thursday the account of digital rights advocate Yaman Akdeniz was withheld from users in the country. The Freedom of Expression Association, a Turkish group that tracks online censorship, has recorded restrictions on the accounts of journalists, academics and economists.

Another Turkish journalist faces up to five years and three months in prison over social media posts linking construction of a subway line to the collapse of an apartment building that killed four people near Istanbul, even though an expert report commissioned by prosecutors later supported a link between the construction and the disaster.

Ankara prosecutors charged Alican Uludağ, a judicial affairs reporter for Deutsche Welle’s Turkish service, with publicly spreading misleading information over posts he made on November 3, 2025, about the collapse in Gebze, a district in northwestern Turkey’s Kocaeli province. His first hearing is scheduled for November 5, the ANKA news agency reported on Monday.

The seven-story Arslan apartment building collapsed on October 29, 2025, killing Emine and Levent Bilir and their two children, ages 12 and 14. The couple’s 18-year-old daughter survived.

Uludağ wrote that construction of the Darıca-Gebze subway line beneath the building had contributed to the collapse and argued that the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure bore responsibility. Prosecutors in Gebze secured an order blocking access to his post and opened an investigation that was later transferred to Ankara.

In an indictment dated September 10, Ankara prosecutors alleged that Uludağ had spread misleading information without supporting evidence in a manner capable of disturbing public peace. They cited the reach of his X account and accused him of repeating the offense in several posts. The indictment seeks a sentence ranging from one year and three months to five years and three months under Turkey’s law against spreading misleading information.

Uludağ told prosecutors that he had relied on information from official sources who inspected the site after the collapse and that reporting on four deaths served the public interest, according to ANKA.

The first expert panel appointed in the investigation subsequently found that subway excavation had contributed to a loss of ground beneath the building. Its report, submitted in December, assigned primary responsibility to the subway contractor’s project management and faulted ministry and municipal personnel over failures to monitor the risks and evacuate the building, according to reporting by Uludağ for Deutsche Welle. That report was produced after his November posts.

The cause remains disputed. A second expert report pointed to weak ground and defects in the building, while a third concluded there was insufficient evidence connecting the subway work to the collapse. The third report also faulted municipal officials for failing to evacuate the building after signs of danger emerged.

Uludağ was jailed pending trial in February in a separate case involving his social media posts, including an accusation that he insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He obtained the first Gebze expert report while in prison and was released in May.

Turkey introduced the misleading information offense in 2022. Data compiled by a journalism research platform showed that prosecutors had brought charges under the law against at least 83 journalists by April 2026, prompting criticism from press freedom groups over its use against reporting.

Meanwhile, an Istanbul court has convicted a popular comedian of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – and handed down a sentence of almost 19 months – but ordered his release due to time served, BBC reports.

It has also placed him under a travel ban, preventing him from traveling outside Turkey.

A final decision in the case will come from the court of appeals.

Deniz Göktaş - who denied the charges - has already spent nearly 90 days in prison. Prosecutors had asked for up to 12 years. His case comes amid a wave of arrests in Turkey that human rights groups say is aimed at crushing dissent.

His stand-up routine went viral on YouTube, attracting more than 15 million views.

Prosecutors had singled out a line in which the comedian called the Turkish leader "a shy dictator", but Göktaş insisted there was "no criminal element" in his comments.

"Dictator is not an insult," he said, "it is a political characterization."

But angering the president in Turkey is not funny. Göktaş was arrested and handcuffed at Istanbul airport in July when he returned from a holiday.

During his court appearance on Monday, it was clear he did not lose his sense of humour during his 88 days in solitary confinement.

"Three months have been taken away from my life," he said on the stand. "But I quit smoking, so I'll add another three months to my life." That drew laughter and loud applause in court.

Outside, supporters like Firat Aksal – a fellow comedian – were very pleasantly surprised by the verdict.

"We hardly know what to do with our happiness," he said. "We are thrilled. To be honest we weren't hopeful of getting a fair trial. "

Göktaş was released at 21:45 local time (18:45 GMT) and greeted by well-wishers, including his parents who he was seen hugging, outside a prison facility.

Aksal said Göktaş would now rest for a few days, and see his family, and then return to the stage.

After his release, Göktaş told reporters: "I'm very happy to be reunited with my family, mother, father, and friends."

But he added: "There are thousands of other people in prisons across Turkey. Some, like me, are being held in pre-trial detention, while others have been convicted because of their views.

"So, of course, it's wonderful to be out. I've missed it very much. But there is not much difference between inside and outside. I hope the day comes when we can all regain our freedom together."

Many others remain behind bars, including journalists, human rights campaigners, student protesters, LGBTQ activists, and the elected Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu. Prisons are full in Turkey these days.

Erdogan and his party in the past have denied arrests, such as that of Imamoglu, have been politically motivated, insisting that Turkey's judiciary is independent.