He was jailed after the shuttering of Dicle News Agency in 2016, was detained without charge for the first 13 months of his imprisonment.

[2] Following this, he was charged with being a member of the banned Kurdish militia, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Witnesses who gave evidence against Türfent later stated that they had been deposed under torture, and the prosecution also relied on anonymous testimony.

[3][4] Türfent claimed at his trial that he was being persecuted as a result of his reporting, in particular a story called "You will see the power of Turks", which criticised the Turkish police and military authorities.

[6] Türfent is also a poet, and his case has been taken up by organisations like PEN International and the Irish arm of The Freedom to Write Campaign.