Turkey seeks life term for 2 anti-President journalists

Turkish prosecutors on Wednesday demanded life sentences for two top journalists from the Opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper on charges of revealing state secrets with a report that had alleged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government tried to send arms into Syria.

Prosecutors asked the Istanbul court to sentence editor-in-chief Can Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul each to a penalty comprising one aggravated life sentence, one ordinary life sentence and 30 years in jail, the Dogan news agency reported.

An aggravated life sentence means tougher conditions, including restricting a prisoner's leisure hours.

It is not unusual in Turkey for prosecutors to seek a combined penalty of life sentences plus a term in jail, but this is done in cases involving violent crimes, such as murder.

Both Mr Erdogan and the head of the National Intelligence Organisation Hakan Fidan — the President’s hugely powerful but low-profile ally — are named as plaintiffs in the 473-page indictment.

Mr Dundar and Mr Gul were both placed under arrest in late November over the report earlier in 2015 that claimed to show proof that a consignment of weapons seized at the border in January 2014 was bound for Islamist rebels in Syria.

Since then, they have both been held in the Silivri jail on the outskirts of Istanbul ahead of their trial.