ISTANBUL, Reuters – Sedef Kabas, a well-known Turkish journalist, was ordered to jail on Saturday by a Turkish court pending her trial for insulting President Tayyip Erdoan. CNN Turk reported that she targeted her using a law where tens or thousands of people have been charged.

Kabas was taken into custody by police at 2:03 a.m. (23300 GMT). She was then transferred to Istanbul’s main courthouse where she was formally arrested, according to the broadcaster.

Kabas allegedly insulted the government by using a proverb related to palaces that she used on both an opposition TV channel and her Twitter account (NYSE:). This prompted condemnation from officials in government.

“The honor of the presidency’s office is also the honour of our nation… Fahrettin Altun (head of Turkey’s Communications Directorate) wrote that he condemned the vulgar insults levelled at our president and his office.

Merdan Yanardag was the chief editor at Tele 1 on which Kabas’ comment was made. He harshly condemned her arrest.

He wrote on Twitter, “Her arrest overnight at 2.am. for a proverb was unacceptable.” This is an attempt at intimidation of journalists, media and society.

For insulting the President, a prison sentence can range from 1 to 4 years.

After ruling that the detention of a man under this law was in violation of his freedom to express himself, Europe’s highest human rights court demanded Turkey change its legislation last October.

In the seven years that Erdogan has been president, thousands have been charged with insulting Erdogan.

31297 charges were investigated in 2020. According to Justice Ministry data 7,790 criminal cases were brought to court and 325 of those cases led to convictions. These figures were slightly lower than in the prior year.

160,169 investigations into Erdogan’s insults have been initiated since 2014. 35,507 cases filed. There were 12,881 convictions.

(This story was rewritten to amend the headline.