US slaps sanctions on Turkey justice, interior ministers over detained pastor: WHouse

The US Treasury Department today hit Turkey's justice and interior ministers with sanctions over the case of an American pastor being tried on terror charges.

"We believe he's a victim of unfair and unjust attention by the government of Turkey," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told journalists, referring to Andrew Brunson, an American pastor at the center of a bitter diplomatic spat between NATO allies.

Brunson, who led a Protestant church in the Aegean city of Izmir, was placed under house arrest last week after nearly two years in jail.