Human rights activist and trade unionist Firat Akdeniz has been sentenced to six years and three months in prison in Amed (tr. Diyarbakir) for alleged membership of a terrorist organization. The case against him was brought after he himself had filed criminal charges against police officers who had beaten him after a demonstration in 2019.

Akdeniz is a member of the education union Eğitim Sen and the Human Rights Association (IHD). In the IHD, he is involved in the commission for "disappeared persons" and calls for a political reappraisal and coming to terms with the past. During protests against the removal of elected mayors in Amed in August 2019, he was beaten up by dozens of police officers and subsequently detained in hospital.

Akdeniz did not attend the trial before the 11th Heavy Penal Court in Amed and was represented by lawyers from the IHD. The trial was observed by board members of the Eğitim Sen trade union and by civilian police officers. Lawyer Lütfulllah Yalçın said in his plea that the background of the prosecution was his client's criminal complaint against the police officers. As evidence of his alleged membership in a terrorist organization, even an intercepted telephone conversation with an HDP deputy who had wished Akdeniz a speedy recovery was used.