Turkish journalists face life sentences for 'crossing' Erdogan

Two leading Turkish journalists could face life in prison after being charged with plotting to "violently" overthrow the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a report said on Wednesday.

Prosecutors asked the Istanbul court to sentence editor-in-chief Can Dundar of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul each to one aggravated life sentence, one ordinary life sentence and 30 years in jail.

The charges stem from a report published by the journalists about Turkey's secret arms shipments to Syrian rebels

Both Erdogan and his hugely powerful but low-profile ally, the head of the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) Hakan Fidan, are named as plaintiffs in the indictment according to reports.

Dundar and Gul were both placed under arrest in late November over the report earlier in the year 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, whose date has still yet to be announced.

In the indictment, they have been formally charged with obtaining and revealing state secrets "for espionage purposes" and seeking to "violently" overthrow the Turkish government as well as aiding an "armed terrorist organisation".

The penalties demanded by the prosecutors are significantly higher than had previously been expected.

The case has amplified concerns about press freedom under the rule of Erdogan, who had personally warned Dundar he would "pay a price" over the front-page story.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Turkey was the fifth-worst imprisoner of journalists last year, with 14 in jail as of 1 December. Only Iran, Eritrea, China and Egypt were worse.

Turkey has recently carried out a crackdown on dissenters and arrested 21 academics who signed a petition denouncing military operations in Kurdish towns in the country's southeast.

The country has also gone after social media sites that allow content unfavourable to the Turkish government, such as fining Twitter $50,000 for not removing content deemed by Ankara as "terrorist propaganda".