Istanbul: Hundreds gathered at Istanbul's main court on Friday to support an opposition politician who faces 17 years in prison for a series of tweets criticising the government.

Canan Kaftancioglu, who heads the secular Republican People's Party (CHP)'s Istanbul branch, is accused of "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish state in tweets posted between 2012 and 2017. The supporters gathered outside the court chanted "Down with fascism" and held signs reading "We are thirsty for justice".