The first hearing of Murat Verim, reporter for Dicle News Agency (DIHA) and staff of the Press, Media and Public Relations Department of Mardin's Kerboran (Dargeçit) Municipality, has been held at Midyat High Criminal Court today.

Verim was accused of “committing crime in the name of an illegal organisation despite not having a membership”, on which grounds he has been sentenced to 6 years in prison. Lawyers for the Kurdish reporter will object to the court decision and file an appeal to the Supreme Court.

In the meantime, ETHA Editor and ANF reporter Arzu Demir gave a statement to Istanbul Courthouse today within the scope of an investigation launched against her on the basis of her interview with HDP co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ on January 15, 2016 and her book "The womanly state of the mountain" on the liberation process of women freedom fighters through portraits of 11 female guerrillas. Demir was accused of "spreading propaganda of a terrorist organisation".

Demir said in her statement that she has been a journalist for 1998 and rejected the accusation, arguing that it was not a crime to interview the HDP co-chair and she therefore stood behind her work.

Regarding the accusation related with her book, Demir said she stayed in Rojava and Efrîn for 2 months and had interviews with female guerrillas during this process, which she later published into a book.

Indicating the continuous threats directed at her from the social media accounts run by special operations police (PÖH) and gendarme (JÖH), Demir said; "In my book I tried to tell the reality in Rojava. I did not spread propaganda for any organisation."