Turkish journalist Pelin Ünker was sentenced to 13 months in jail after being found to have defamed her nation’s former prime minister and two of his sons.

An Istanbul court sentenced the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ member to imprisonment for for “defamation and insult.”

Ünker, who reported that former prime minister Binali Yildirim and his sons owned companies in Malta in the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, was also fined $US1,615.

One of Ünker’s lawyers, Tora Pekin, defended the journalist’s work after the ruling, telling local reporters it was both accurate and in the public interest.

Her legal team said the complaint against the now freelance reporter was doubly unfair because it also encompassed pieces not written by her.

“[Paradise Papers] were reported as news all across the world but the only one who is being tried for that is Pelin Ünker,” Pekin reportedly said.

Following her sentencing, Ünker told ICIJ that she intended to appeal what was an extraordinary but unsurprising court ruling.

Ünker said what made the “world first” ruling so remarkable was that the complainants acknowledged that her articles were true.

“This decision is not a surprise for us. Because the result was certain from the beginning. There is no criminal offense or defamation in my articles,” she said.