Zehra Doğan (born 14 April 1989) is a Kurdish artist and journalist and author from Diyarbakır, Turkey. In 2017, she was sentenced to 2 years, 9 months and 22 days in prison for "terrorist propaganda" because of her news coverage, social media posts, and sharing a painting of hers on social media. Her painting depicts the destruction of the Nusaybin, town in southeastern Turkey, after the clashes between state security forces and Kurdish insurgents. After she finished her sentence, she was released from imprisonment from Tarsus Prison on 24 February 2019.
Career
She was a founder and the editor of Jinha, a feminist Kurdish news agency with an all-female staff. Jinha was closed on 29 October 2016 by Turkish authorities, as one of over 100 media outlets shut down since the failed coup d'état in July 2016. In February 2016, Doğan moved to and began reporting from Nusaybin.
Arrest and imprisonment
On 21 July 2016, she was detained at a café in Nusaybin and then incarcerated on 23 July in Mardin prison. Her release pending trial was ordered on the 9 December of the same year. On 2 March 2017, she was acquitted of the charge of "belonging to an illegal organisation", but was sentenced to 2 years, 9 months and 22 days in jail for her news reporting and posting a painting to social media. She appealed the sentence but it was confirmed and she was arrested on 12 July 2017.
"I was given two years and 10 months [jail time] only because I painted Turkish flags on destroyed buildings. However, they (Turkish government) caused this. I only painted it," Doğan wrote on Twitter following the sentencing.
In prison, she and other women created the newspaper Özgür Gündem Zindan (Free Agenda Dungeon), whose name is a wordplay on Özgür Gündem (Free Agenda), an Istanbul-based publication that catered to Kurdish audiences. One of lawyers was Kamuran Tanhan. Doğa was released from prison in February 2019.
International reaction to the imprisonment
In November 2017, Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei published a letter he wrote in solidarity with Doğan's case, drawing parallels between Chinese and Turkish repression of artistic expression. Doğan answers the artist from prison: "Art is the best instrument for the struggle". On 16 March 2018, England-based graffiti artist, Banksy unveiled a mural in New York, measuring 70 feet long, showing black tally marks for the days of Doğan's imprisonment, with one set becoming bars behind which Doğan's face looks out from jail. Speaking to The New York Times, Banksy said, "I really feel for her... I've painted things much more worthy of a custodial sentence."
In 2019, Creative Nomads, an Italian production, will release a documentary film featuring three women: "Terrorist. Zehra and the others". The novelist Aslı Erdoğan, and the forensic doctor and human rights defender Şebnem Korur Fincancı are interviewed, Doğan participates by correspondence from the prison, and she is represented by animated sequences with the voice of the actress Kasia Smoutniak. The documentary is directed by Marica Casalinuovo, Francesca Nava, Vichie Chinaglia, Marella Bombini.
Recognition
2015 Metin Göktepe Journalism Award. The award was for Doğan's work about Yazidi women escaping from ISIS captivity. 2017, Freethinker Prize, along with Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist. 2018 May, "Spring of Press Freedom" prize by Deutscher Journalisten Verbrand (The German Journalists Association) 2018, International Women's Media Foundation's Courage in Journalism Award. 2018, honorary member of PEN International 2019 Exceptional Courage in Journalism Award of the May Chidiac Foundation 2020, during the 14th edition of the Festival of Feminine Excellence in Genoa, Italy, she receives the "Hypatia Award for International Feminine Excellence". 2020, "Carol Rama Award", Artissima 2020. 2020, Power 100 - Most influential people in 2020 in the contemporary artworld. 2021, Atomium Awards : Le Soir Prize of the comic strip of reportage 2021, for her graphic novel Prison n°5, published in 2021 by Editions Delcourt. 2021, Power 100 - Most influential people in 2021 in the contemporary artworld. 2021, "Prison n°5", top list of "The best comics of 2021" by Wired Italy. 2021, "Prison n°5", selected in list of 10 best graphic books of the year 2021 by Il Manifesto.
