Jailed Istanbul mayor says his lawyer has been arrested

Istanbul’s jailed mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, posted on social media Friday that his lawyer, Mehmet Pehlivan, had been detained on fictitious grounds and demanded his immediate release.

“My lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan was detained on fictitious grounds,” Imamoglu wrote in a post on X, published via his legal team. “As if the coup against democracy was not enough, they cannot tolerate the victims defending themselves,” he added, urging, “Release my lawyer immediately.”

The detainment of Pehlivan came amid ongoing mass protests sparked by Imamoglu’s arrest on March 19. In addition to the mayor’s lawyer, two more Turkish journalists were detained during dawn raids on their homes for covering the protests, the Turkish Journalists’ Union (TGS) reported.

The union identified the detained journalists as Nisa Sude Demirel, a reporter for the Evrensel newspaper, and Elif Bayburt, who works for the ETHA news agency.

“Another dawn raid. Two of our colleagues who were following the #Sarachane protests were detained,” the TGS said, referring to the protests that took place in the district where Istanbul City Hall is located. “Let journalists do their job! Stop these unlawful detentions!” the union added.

On Thursday, Turkish authorities released the last of 11 journalists arrested earlier in dawn raids on Monday for covering the protests, including AFP photographer Yasin Akgul.