Zehra Doğan was reportedly imprisoned for her painting of a damaged Turkish city

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Banksy has unveiled a mural in New York highlighting the case of a Turkish artist who was jailed for nearly three years over a painting.

Zehra Doğan was reportedly imprisoned in 2017 for her painting of a damaged Turkish city.

Banksy’s work shows the image projected above a mural of tally marks that resemble jail bars and represent the time she has spent in prison. A painting of her face peers from behind bars.

The mural, which was unveiled on Thursday, was reportedly 70ft long, and made in collaboration with graffiti artist Borf, the New York Times reported.

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“I really feel for her. I’ve painted things much more worthy of a custodial sentence,” Banksy said.

The anonymous artist wrote about the “injustice” on Instagram, using the hashtag FREEzehradogan. “Sentenced to nearly three years in jail for painting a single picture,” he added.

Doğan was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison for painting the city Nusaybin damaged by state security forces, according to freedom of expression advocate PEN.

She argued that she made the painting as a journalist but was charged with being connected to the Kurdistan Workers’ party, which has been battling the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.