Istanbul — Turkey on Tuesday began a trial against a group of academics charged with terror offenses for signing a petition almost two years ago calling for peace in the Kurdish-dominated southeast. Over 1,120 Turkish and also foreign academics initially signed the petition which denounced the actions of Turkey's military in the southeast where deadly clashes had erupted with outlawed Kurdish militants in 2015. The academics say they were merely making an apolitical call for peace but prosecutors charged 146 of the signatories with making propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The first 10 academics charged -- from Istanbul University and Galatasaray University -- went on trial Tuesday in Istanbul. A new hearing was being started against each academic individually at 10 minute intervals, in a marathon process that will last until at least April. The prosecution has opted against a mass trial of all the suspects under the same case. In the first hearings, a defense lawyer argued that their petition is within boundaries of freedom of expression and demanded their acquittal. Students gathered outside the court to support their lecturers, brandishing banners with slogans including don't touch my professor! If convicted, the suspects face up to seven-and-a-half years in jail. None of the defendants going on trial on Tuesday is currently held behind bars. The petition had accused Turkey of a deliberate and planned massacre in the southeast which was in serious violation of international law. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan heavily criticized the signatories of the petition, saying those standing by the perpetrators of the massacres are a party to the crime. But Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that the legal proceedings violated the right to freedom of speech and are a misuse of terrorism laws. The prosecution claims that the academics were responding to a call from a senior PKK figure for intellectuals to support the Kurdish militant cause. The case has finally come to trial amid growing concerns for freedom of expression in Turkey due to the crackdown that has followed the failed July 2016 putsch against Erdogan's rule. Meanwhile, Turkish police have detained a total of 17 people as part of an investigation regarding Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, who is cooperating with prosecutors in a US trial, state-run Anadolu news agency said on Tuesday. No details were available on the investigation regarding Zarrab, who has pleaded guilty to charges that he schemed to evade US sanctions on Iran and is testifying for US prosecutors against a Turkish banker facing related charges. — Agencies