Istanbul, May 7 (IANS) Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, journalists from Turkeys Cumhuriyet newspaper, have been convicted on charges of "revealing state secrets" and sentenced to over five years in prison by an Istanbul court.
Dundar,editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper, was sentenced to five years and ten months in prison, while his colleague, who headed the papers Ankara bureau, got five years behind bars, Turkish Hurriyet daily reported on Friday.
The Turkish court has reportedly acquitted them on some of the charges, including that of coup attempt, according to the newspaper.
The two had also faced life sentences for publishing their report which claims that Turkey has delivered weapons to terrorists in Syria.
Earlier in March, the court named Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as the complainant in the case. The hearings were held in secret.
The case of the two journalists, who faced charges for revealing state secrets, espionage, and aiding a terrorist group, has drawn international attention since the Erdogan critics were jailed last year.
The opposition journalists' arrests have sparked protests in Turkey, while the international community has also slammed the government's action against them. Moscow has called the case an example of Ankara's "crackdown on the media."
