Gunman attacks newpaper editor outside Istanbul courthouse

Can Dundar, the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper, escaped a gun attack on Friday outside Istanbul's Caglayan courthouse, Turkish police said.

He was assaulted by a gunman outside the courthouse. Police immediately detained the attacker.

Dundar was not wounded in the attack, but a Turkish news channel - NTV - correspondent, Yagiz Senkal, was slightly injured.

On Nov. 26, Dundar, and Cumhuriyet's Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gul, were arrested on charges of political and military espionage, membership of a terrorist organisation, and revealing confidential information.

They have been facing an investigation after publishing several images and video footage on May 29, showing guns and ammunition that were allegedly carried by Turkish National Intelligence Service (MIT) trucks.

In January 2014, several trucks of the MIT were stopped by local gendarmerie in the southern Adana and Hatay provinces on the grounds that they were loaded with ammunition and headed to groups in Syria, despite a national security law forbidding such a search.

The two journalists were released in late February by the respective court pending a trial after Turkey's constitutional court said that their rights had been violated.

Earlier this week, an Istanbul prosecutor called for a prison sentence of up to 31 years for Dundar, and 10 years for Gul for revealing state secrets.