Hanifi Barış is a lawyer and academic, who has also worked on human rights. He is a member of Academics for Peace and signed the 2016 peace petition “We will not be a party to this crime!”. The human rights defender drew public attention for representing a famous conscientious objector who was sentenced to prison. He also defended his client's right to represent himself in Kurdish, which was refused by the court. Hanifi Barış was practising law as a private attorney in Turkey prior to his arrest.
About the Situation
On 12 February 2019, Istanbul’s 29th High Criminal Court sentenced Hanifi Barış to 1 year and 8 months in prison on the charge of “terrorist propaganda.” His sentence was suspended and he will not be given a criminal record provided that he is not convicted of another crime within the next five years. The human rights defender remains under a travel ban.

On 13 December 2018, the second hearing of Hanifi Barış was held at the Istanbul’s 29th High Criminal Court. He is facing charges of creating “terrorist propaganda” over his social media posts. The Court lifted the requirement on Hanifi Barış to regularly present himself to the authorities, but the travel ban on the human rights defender was not lifted. The criminal proceedings remain ongoing and the next hearing will be held on 12 February 2019 at 3 p.m.[1]