Turkey sentences UN judge on 'terrorism' charges

Turkey has sentenced a UN war crimes judge Judge Aydin Sedaf Akay to 7 years and six months in prison on charges of "membership in a terrorist organization", an international court in the Hague said.

Akay has been held in Turkey since September, one of tens of thousands of Turkish officials arrested in a crackdown on people and organizations after a foiled coup in which hundreds died.

The UN court said in a statement that Turkey's actions constituted a "further breach of Judge Akay’s protected status", as U.N. judges have diplomatic immunity under international law, Reuters reported.

At the time of his arrest, Akay was part of a panel assembled to determine if new evidence showed Rwandan Augustin Ngirabatware had been wrongfully convicted of genocide and jailed for 35 years.

According to a statement by the MICT, Akay was convicted on Tuesday on a single charge of membership in "FETO" - which Turkey says is a terrorist organization that supports US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen whom Ankara accuses of backing the coup.