Nedim Şener, one of Turkey’s leading investigative journalists, specializes in police and national security investigations. In March 2011, he was detained and jailed, under widely criticized charges, by the Turkish government for allegedly supporting an armed terrorist organization in connection with the so-called "Ergenekon" plot. Ten journalists have been charged in the case, including investigative journalist Ahmet Şik, writer Yalçin Küçük and Oda TV executive Soner Yalçin. The defendants have argued that they are being targeted for the content of their journalism. After a year of sustained international criticism, Sener was freed in March 2012 but remains under indictment. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Şener, who worked at the Turkish daily national newspaper Milliyet, came to prominence following the publication of his book on the 2007 assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. Şener’s investigation implicated Turkish security agencies in Dink’s killing outside his weekly newspaper. Sener was prosecuted by officials for the book and, in 2010, acquitted.

In September 2013, Sener was honored with an International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists "in recognition of their courageous reporting in the face of severe reprisal." He has also been honored with numerous Turkish press awards and the Oxfam/Novib PEN Freedom of Expression award, and in 2010 was chosen as a World Press Freedom Hero by the International Press Institute.