TURKEY’S crackdown on opposition voices continued yesterday as an Istanbul court heard the appeal against life sentences handed down in February to veteran journalist Ahmet Altan and his brother Mehmet.

The pair are accused of colluding with the Gulen network in plotting the failed coup attempt of July 2016, charges they both deny.

Striking a defiant tone, Ahmad Altan said: “You can imprison me, but you cannot keep me in prison because, like all writers, I have magic. I can pass through walls with ease.”

After he was sentenced earlier this year he spoke of the strength he received from his supporters and friends, those who resist and believe in hope.

“Your friendship is my shield. No tyranny will know how to puncture it. Your friendship protects me,” he said, adding: “I kiss you with tenderness.”

His brother Mehmet, an economics professor and newspaper columnist, was released from prison when their appeal application was accepted in June.

They were sentenced to aggravated life in prison — meaning they are not allowed to receive vistors — in February 2018 on charges of “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order” after they were detained in the wake of the failed coup attempt.

The pair were accused of giving “subliminal messages” in support of the coup attempt on the Can Erzincan TV programme broadcast the night before the coup attempt.

Co-host of the TV show Nazli Ilicak attended her third hearing earlier this month and faces an additional charge of life imprisonment for “disclosing confidential information” relating to the Turkish state.

The channel that broadcast the programme is one of hundreds of media outlets closed down since the failed coup under a state of emergency that lasted for almost two years.

Press freedom has been seriously curtailed — a third of the the world’s jailed journalists are in Turkish prisons.

Earlier this month the liberal Cumhuriyet newspaper was taken over by the government, staff were sacked and the editorial line changed.

Ahmet Altan said in court: “We have the same charges against us as those who have bombed places. I only want proof, I don’t want any false witnesses.”

He demanded he be cleared of all charges and freed from prison.

The hearing was adjourned until October 2 for the final defence statements.