As part of an investigation carried out by the Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Ruken Demir, a reporter for Mesopotamia Agency (MA) and Melike Aydın, a reporter for JIN NEWS, were detained on 12 November and charged with ”conducting activities on behalf of the organization' and both were arrested by İzmir 1st Criminal Court of Peace on November 16.

 

One of the common accusations against both journalists was the stories about the protests for Mountain Ida which was sold to a Canadian Company for gold mining.  It was claimed that the journalists were instructed to make fiction news in order to initiate a similar attempt to the Gezi Protests and their interviews with environment defenders were considered to be crimes.

 

The fact that journalist Aydın using a cell phone registered to her sister was also considered to be an evidence of a crime. 

 

Zafer İncin, attorney of both of the journalists who are currently held at Aliağa Şakran Women's Closed Prison, stated that he will make the necessary objections for the unjust and unlawful detention of journalists due to their professional activities to overturn the decision.