Dundar, the former editor-in-chief of Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, and his colleague Erdem Gul were sentenced in 2016 to five years in prison for publishing a video purporting to show Turkish intelligence trucking weapons into Syria. They were later released pending appeal.

Now a resident of Germany, Dundar had faced up to 35 years in jail for allegedly supporting terrorism and military or political espionage.

His lawyers refused to attend the final hearing.

"We do not want to be part of a practice to legitimise a previously decided, political verdict," they said in a written statement ahead of the hearing.

Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas criticised the ruling as a "hard blow against independent journalistic work in Turkey".

"Journalism is not a crime but an indispensable service to society - even and especially when it looks critically ... on the fingers of those in power," Maas told RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland.

Fahrettin Altun, the Turkish presidency's communications director, said on Twitter Dundar's sentence does not violate freedom of expression.

Writing in German, he said Turkey expects its partners to accept the court's decision and extradite the former editor-in-chief.

For critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Dundar has become a symbol of what they say is Turkey's sweeping crackdown on press freedom, especially since a failed coup in 2016.

The government says the courts are independent and it is responding to threats facing the country.

The court earlier this month delayed its verdict after Dundar's lawyers asked for the judges to be replaced to ensure a fair trial, a request that was rejected.

An Istanbul court had declared Dundar a fugitive and seized all his assets in Turkey.

Australian Associated Press