A Turkish court had sentenced Guler Mentes to 10 months in prison for her involvement in an unauthorised 2000 rally supporting Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, and for having spoken to media in favour of him.

Mentes was a member of HADEP political party before it was disbanded in 2003 by a Turkish high court over its alleged links to the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist group by Ankara.

The rights court said that Turkey's conviction of Mentes did not mention any information that served as the basis for her imprisonment, an assessment that put into doubt Ankara's respect for the woman's right to free speech.

This violation of freedom of expression "was unnecessary in a democratic society," said the court.